Formalities involved in closing the Maxgain Home Loan Account at SBI

Given below are the steps which we had followed while closing the Home Loan (Maxgain) @ SBI.
1. Book balance is the amount which you are owing to the bank, if you look at your online account.
2. Make sure, you have enough balance to pay off the loan in your savings account.(Extra interest amount needs to be anticipated while closing the loan).
3. Visit the bank on your preferred time (Even if there is a co-applicant for the loan, he/she is not mandatory at  this stage).
4. Hand over the closure request letter. (Make sure you are carrying all the homeloan related documents and a cheque book of your savings - though it's not mandatory).
5. Bank officer will calculate the remaining amount and will transfer the amount from your savings bank account.
6. Once the loan is closed, the bank will provide you with a closure letter.
7. The closure letter need to be produced at the RACPC branch, where your original documents are present.
8. Generally, we can book for an appointment over the phone at the RACPC.
9. On the date of the appointment, visit the branch (with your co-applicant,  if any). If the co-applicant cannot come for this, you need to get an authorization letter from the co-applicant.
10. Make sure, you are cancelling the further EMI deductions.
11. SBI officer will handover all the original documents of your property. All the applicants need to sign there. (Or hand over the authorization letter).
12. If the loan is more than 20 lacs, generally there will be a mortgage associated with it.
13. We need to cancel the mortgage. SBI will give a request for that.
14. Visit the registrar office with the mortgage cancellation request.
15. You may also need to get a fresh Encumbrance certificate issued for the property.
16. All the applicants are required to be present for this.
16. You may need couple of witnesses for signing this.
17. Pay the required fees and collect the required documents.

Second Quarter got completed

July 29 - we had 1 exam. July 30 - We had 2 more exams. And the final 2 exams happened on August 6. Exams were okay similar to the first quarter. Most of the exams were for 1:45 hrs to 2 hrs duration and the Corporate Information Management was for 1:10 hrs only. The timing was a bit tough for that and lot of questions were there to answer. Personally, I liked the question pattern of Economic Environment, since it was expecting to write pointed answers and some latest general knowledge topics related to economics were also asked. Business Law was also a nice question paper, though I am not sure, if my answers were right or not. Though I am not very fond of Finance related subjects, SSS Kumar sir was one of the best teachers who taught us in this quarter.
Enjoyed reading the slides of CIM, as many topics were of my areas of interest. Glad that we could do the analysis of Amazon as part of the CIM project, got to learn a lot of things in that.

Took a few days of leave before the exams and I am still surprised that, I am trying to study a lot by putting in long hours. Though I was in a locked room, Dakshith used to knock at the door and shout 'Achaaa..' once in a while.

Support from family and office is very keen in this journey and luckily it's going well for me. Quarter 2, I had some bad scores with some quizzes. Quiz scores, Attendance, Project - If you made it good with these things, then more than half of the job is done. Realized that, these are very important after getting the quarter 1 results :).

Quarter 1 Results came and it was good. Since it's a relative grading, even if you have more marks in certain subjects, you may get lesser grades when compared to another subject. Really shocked with 1 participant mark in Finance in quarter 1. Got to know that marks up to 83 got an A- and we were wondering what is the mark for A+ and later realized that the topper got 96. That's some talent and brilliant I must say.

Its fun to see the chat messages happening in whatsapp groups after the exam results and I am pretty sure, there would be some set of participants who is keeping a low profile and scoring very heavy and the rest of the group is unaware. May be after a few more quarters, we might get some more details.

For the people who are thinking of taking this course or not - A few information from my experience.
1. It's time consuming.
2. You need to sacrifice your time for a better result.
3. No Weekends
4. You will get a lot of self satisfaction (at least I am getting).
5. You will enjoy learning (at least, I am enjoying).
6. You will realize the amount of time, you were wasting earlier :)
7. More and more people are doing it from premium B schools nowadays.
8. Price is increasing every year. Sooner the better.
9. You will get to see some of the best teachers available in the country.
10. You will get to see some of the brilliant and experienced people in the country and a strong network as well.

I may plan to start writing the book, once the course is over. 

Done with the first quarter

We are done with the first quarter of EPGP-09 @ IIM-K. Five papers, their exams, assignments and the project works are almost completed. Most of the project work were group activities and we were FOUR in our group. Nithin, Ginu, Deepak and myself. Before joining the course, I was thinking that, this won't be hectic and is easily manageable. The IIM-K faculties told couple of things during the in campus module - 1) You wont realize how fast the time flies in the next 2 years 2) You will realize that you were wasting a lot of quality time earlier. Both those things came true. 4-5 months already gone so fast and I am realizing that I was having lot of free time earlier. The decision to do this course was definitely one of the best decisions I took. Now I am getting a feeling that, I am learning something new everyday.

Some of the friends who joined for this course left it in midway. Some of them stopped right after the in campus module and some other left after the first quarter. A few of them are joining other IIM's EPGP courses.

This week our second quarter classes have started. Coming weekend, there is no class. That's a huge luxury nowadays. Planning to go somewhere, as this wont happen so often in the next couple of years. After couple more weeks, weekly quiz, assignment and projects will again start for the second quarter.

Quiz was one of the best thing happened in quarter 1. Most of the topics were covered in the quiz and the topics were not alien to us during the time of the exams. The way all the process is conducted by IIM-K, is a very thoughtful and brilliant procedure.

Regarding the first quarter exams, Qualitative Techniques professor had shared some question patterns and most of the questions were similar to that pattern. Managerial Communication professors questions were pure application side - you should know the theory well and then you should apply that in the exam. Accounting was having mainly numerical problem solving and some very less amount of theory. Organizational behavior was also similar to Managerial Communication, but some amount of theoretical questions were also there. Managerial Economics was having a lot of Multiple Choice Questions and some theoretical questions. Not sure, when the results will be out.

This quarter, we should target to complete the projects as early as poss ible. Else towards the end, everything will pile up. Quarter 1, we had completed 70-80% of the Managerial Economics project quite early and that really helped us.

Another news is that EPGP-10, the fee is 10 Lacs, an increase of 2 Lacs compared to us (EPGP-09).

EPGP 09 @ IIM K

So finally I took that decision of taking an executive MBA. I cannot afford in going for a full time executive MBA from a good institute. First of all, the course itself is too costly and secondly, my 1 or 2 year of salary also will not be coming in. So it's a really huge investment and I cannot afford. So, I was looking for multiple other options and was discussing with some of my friends as well. IIM K (Kozhikode) announced their 9th batch program in September 2016. Based on my research, I realized that, they introduced this program in the premier business institute sector and this is the 9th batch in offering. More than that, IIM K is the 5th IIM in India, started way back in 1996. Going for this kind of a course in an IIM is having its own merits in terms of a brand value and the availability of eminent professors. The cost involved is around 8 lacs and the time frame is roughly 2 years. Tried to get some more information from the internet and the only source other than the IIM K website was Vinay Bhutani's blog, which was an older EPGP program a few years ago. Though I didn't get much information, I still decided to pursue with the admission process.

My main agenda or purpose was 1) Making a network of some experienced professionals, 2) Learning the industry proven managerial methods, 3) Overcoming my own negatives/inhibitions, 4) Getting a good brand, 5) Learn something new and bring in some change rather than doing the same stuff at office and 6) Try applying  the learned stuff in my personal and professional life.

I paid the registration fee of Rs.2500 and sent all the required documents to IIM K. There was a test which is called EMAT which is conducted by IIM K and followed by an interview. I just looked at some of the old question papers available in the IIM K website and prepared around that. I realized that, though we used to do these analytical questions quite fast during the engineering final year times, now it's taking a lot of time. I was mainly focusing on finding the right answer or omitting the wrong answer, depending on the question/situation.

The Test/Interview was on a Saturday in December 2016 at a hotel in Bangalore. I went with a formal dress code to the hotel a bit early and there was one gentle man who was sitting in the room wearing a blazer. Initially I thought, he would be the one who is taking the interviews and later realized, he is also a candidate.  After some time, others also reached. I believe, there was some 40 - 45 people at the venue. Some were in formal dress, some were in too much formal, almost like business attire, some others were less/semi formal and a few were very casual.Slowly, the test started and it was 40 multiple choice questions which includes quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, verbal etc. Except the questions which are related to English language, it was quite easy for me. I finished with some 7-8 minutes to spare. Synonyms/Antonyms section was difficult. Forget the question, even the four choices in the answers were alien to me. I was sure that, if there is a section cut off for English, I will not clear this test, else I will clear without any issues.

Soon after the test, I was called inside for the interview. There were 2 gentlemen in the panel, both of them are IIM K professors. .After the normal introduction related questions, most of the remaining session was related to checking the fact, if I know what my company's business is, what is the revenue, potential growth etc. That side went well, except for one question. They started with marketing and sales and finally came to a question "why is petrol not getting marketed?" My answers were not convincing for myself. The interview was very short, may be under 10 minutes.

I was having the hope that, if there is no section cut off for English, this is done. Within a week, I went to Nagaworld Casino, Cambodia for some business discussions. On the way back, I got the message/email that, I got selected for the EPGP 09 at IIM K.

I paid the initial fee of 98000 in the first week of January and there is an in-campus module from 16 - 21 of January. I traveled to Kozhikode in car on a Sunday morning through Kudalur, Kalpetta etc. I had my booking confirmed at Hotel Maharani, near Palayam.


First half of the stay at Kozhikode
Loved the hotel. Its in the city, it's an old hotel with very nice employees, decently priced and nice food. On the third day of the stay, I saw Director Ranjith at Maharani. Heard from a friend that, Maharani was one of the oldest BIG hotels in Kozhikode and all the celebrities used to stay here.
Loved the city, its so well developed, all the people are having a helping mentality, less pollution, beautiful. I decided that I should come with Radhika and Dakshith for vacation. There are beaches, art events, good food options. Today me, Suraj and Abhilash went to the Kozhikode beach and then to 'Dhe Puttu'. Yesterday, it was more fun with a small party with 6 people including Saikat and Avinash as well. At the college also, met a lot of nice and similar minded friends.

The IIM K Experience
First of all, its a beautiful campus of around 100 acres and is around 10 kms away from Kozhikode town at a place called Kunnamangalam, which is a hilly area. After the test/interview they offered the admission to 220 students and 180 turned up. Average experience is around 9.5 years and it includes people from various industries. But the major population is from Engineering. Bangalore/Mumbai are leading with maximum number of participants. Most of the experience group is from 5 to 15. And there are 6 people who are more than 20 years experienced.

Till now, a total of 6-7 professors came to our class and taught various subjects. Each and every professor, exceeded my expectations by miles. They are very passionate, very down to earth, huge experience level, gigantic energy level, and very much approachable. The confidence, they gave in the initial days is beyond most of our imaginations. Some of the subjects which are dry and was expecting a dull class, turned out to be one of the best we attended in our whole life. Most of the classes till now were better than some of the best classes/presentations I attended in my life. We started understanding the reason, why is this called an IIM and why these professors are into teaching.

One thing I noted, but not sure if this is True - Most of the professors are having a very pleasant face, their body language is telling that they are approachable, their voice modulation changes suddenly, they are using a lot of extra actions, they are showing and passing a lot of passion. May be they all attended some kind of a common training program regarding teaching methodology.

As of now, after completing 3 in campus module days, I am very happy, excited and realizing that this was one of the best decisions that I took. Also, based on my analysis, 8-10 years of experience is the ideal time for taking up this course. I am loving it......