Q.How was your day today?
A.The day
was great.I think it has been great interacting with all..It was a great
experience coming here in terms of interacting with both the students and the
faculty.I am looking forward to the years to come.
Q.Sir how was your interaction with the students and what are the
improvements that can be made?
A.I think
overall students have been doing a good job .That is why we have
assigned good positions.They have been doing a lot of projects and are involved
with the industry,be it a part of internship or their B.Tech projects.So I
think the way knowledge is being imparted to the students is great as it is
made a part of the curriculum.
Q.What are your experiences working in paytm?
A.I have
been working with paytm from the last two years and it has been great.I always
say Paytm is hundred startups within one startup.We have been growing both in
terms of business as well as technology.There is this freedom associated with
the engineers that you can go ahead and solve the problems of the common man
and paytm is one company which is trying to solve problems from the very
primary level.
Q.In what ways do you think technology is going to change
India in the next few years?
A.We have to
basically improve the common man in India.Today for example if we go to one
tier villages the people there cannot even open their own bank accounts,as
simple as that.This process seems to be so complex for them and I think Paytm
is one company which has the vision that each and every person of india is a
part of national economy.Paytm is doing a great job and in the next few years
it will be serving five hundred million users and has already covered a
large part of India.
Q. Sir what are your views about Digital India?
A.That is a
pretty good initiative by the government. It was a much awaited venture and if
we go back to the common person there are a lot of people today who only need
basic services,which can be provided to them with just the click of a
button.These kind of ventures complement the Indian economy.It helps India
moves one step further.
Q.Sir what are the qualities that you look for,in the candidates
at the time of recruitment?
A.I would
not say one thing but a few things together are to be taken care of.One of the
things,besides speed and vigilance,is primarily aptitude.It means how much
‘self-initiative’ attitude a candidate has.People join Paytm.They have to take
full ownership of things from Day 1.How much things they can do or what have
they done by taking their own self initiative means a lot. We not only ask
questions related to algorithms but we also ask questions how to code just to
make sure that the knowledge they read or they learn in their curriculum is a
lot more practical in nature and they can actually implement.
Q.Would you like to share any new concepts paytm is trying to
introduce in the market?
A.One of the
things that we are trying is the payment bank.We came from recharges four
five years back then we started Wallet two years back at marketplace and the
next big thing that is on the agenda of paytm is the bank.It directs towards
the same goal of financial equilibrium.We try to bring more people into this
system.People will have a totally different banking experience.The team is
working there.
Q.As our institute combines the study of IT and management,so how
do you think this combination can be unique?
A.I think
its pretty good.It has been always my perception that technology and business
go hand in hand.Lets take an example.We have a lot of stress on startups right
and people who really want to win that world need to understand not just
technology, they also need to understand business challenges.Unless they don’t
understand that,they would not be very successful.So at the end of the day you
need to see how to use technology to solve a real need and make a business out
of it.So this blend of IT and management is really a good combination and I
think that people can really make good advantage by mixing all this with what
exists in the real world.A lot of this knowledge is driven by books and
curriculum.So once we go into the reality,we can actually see what really works
and what does not.And if people can successfully combine that knowlwdge with
lot of technical stuff that happens in the industry and the economy,we can
really prosper then.
Q.Sir as a student of first year from where should we start and
which computer language should be preferred to be opted for?
A.As far as
anguage is concerned,I think it does not matter in today’s world.My perspective
is you can choose any language as it is not a barrier.C++,Java,Python or any
other programming language would work.At the end,your programming skills matter
and they can be built up in any language.The question is if you can start from
small things and be able to build research projects,which are long term
initiatives and be able to convert them into large scale projects.So students
can start with smaller ideas and with a period of time,with the collaboration
of the institute and the faculty,they build stronger ideas,which will be an
advantage both for the institute and the students.
Q.How do you manage yourself in difficult situation and what is
your success mantra?
A.Moments
come and go. Nothing is static.We always feel that we are in a worse situation
but actually those would be very small. See today if I am having any problem I
should not take it in a negative way because at the same moment,there will be
hundreds of people suffering more than me.We need to keep a different
perspective towards problems. Then slowly and gradually we would calm down and
tackle the situation.Then we get strength to focus on our work.I believe on
persistence.If you believe in something,always persist for it.Success does not
come to you overnight.If you ask any successful entrepreneur,in the first few
years he was not even recognised.So persistence for longer duration helps a lot.
Q.What message would you like to give to india youth?
A.When I was
in my college fifteen years back at that time India was very different and
today with the economy opening up,there are more and more opportunities.The
Indian youth has the capability to make right choices.They are not less than
anyone else in this world.India can establish a lot.
Q.Sir please share something about you career and field.
A.I
graduated from IIT Delhi in 2002 with a dual degree course.After that I spent
my first three years in Austria.It was primarily a research company.Somewhere
in 2005,my startup worked.I left my job.In 2011 we sold our company to a US
company.Two years later,I came back to India.I was always more of an India
person.And then we started another company which focussed on e-commerce.It ran
for almost one and a half year and then that company got acquired by Paytm.
Q.What tagline would you like to give to our institute?
A.As an
institute you are doing a great work.We need more such institutes.We have
really good students.When I see resume of students,I am literally surprised as
in my time,there were no such competitions like coding competitions and now you
see resumes,they have their names in top 100 in India or top 50 or top 10
showing their techtalent.You need to be a really good engineer at the core of
it and that is what is really coming out.
