What the GD round looks like in 2026-27, in one paragraph
The group discussion has largely left the IIMs and lives on at the other business schools. The IIM policy we have read, IIM Calcutta's MBA 2027-29 admission procedure, lists a Writing Ability Test and a personal interview and no group round, and candidates report the same WAT-PI pattern across the IIMs. At the schools that take XAT, SNAP, NMAT, CMAT and their own tests, a group round is still common, in one of three shapes: a classic GD (a topic, a circle of candidates, a timed discussion), a Group Exercise (a shared task, the official term in SNAP admissions, where snaptest.org describes a "Group Exercise and Personal Interaction process conducted separately by each institute"), or a case discussion (a short business situation, as NMIMS candidates report). XLRI's 2027 admission prospectus says candidates may be called for a "personal interview and/or group discussion". The dates that matter this cycle are official: XAT 2027 on 3 January 2027, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm with registration closing 6 December 2026 and the result in the last week of January 2027 (xatonline.in and the XAT 2027 bulletin, read 21 October 2026), SNAP 2026 on 13, 19 and 26 December 2026 (snaptest.org), and CAT 2026 on Sunday 29 November 2026 (iimcat.ac.in). The rounds follow the results, mostly in February and March, on each institute's own schedule. What every format tests is the same: whether you have something to say, whether you can say it so a group follows, and whether the group is better for your being in it. The eighty topics below, each with five points, exist to make the first of those a non-issue so that you can spend your attention on the other two.
At a glance:
- IIMs: WAT and PI, no GD (IIM Calcutta's 2027-29 procedure; the others as candidates report).
- SNAP institutes: "Group Exercise and Personal Interaction", conducted by each institute (official term, snaptest.org).
- XLRI: "personal interview and/or group discussion" (XLRI admission prospectus 2027, official). IIFT, MDI, NMIMS and others: a GD, case discussion or extempore before the PI in most recent cycles, as reported; the format can change in any year.
- Dates this cycle: CAT 29 November 2026; SNAP 13, 19 and 26 December 2026; XAT 3 January 2027, 2 pm to 5 pm. All official.
- Topic types: current affairs with a question, business questions, abstract lines, short cases. The bank below covers all four.
- Three or four well-placed entries beat eight loud ones. A wrong number costs more than no number.
GD, GE, CD and WAT: the four written and group formats compared
Candidates with calls from an IIM, XLRI and a SNAP institute in the same fortnight can face four different formats with one bank of topics. The table separates them so that you prepare the behaviour, not just the content. The official column cites only what an institute or test body publishes; everything else is pattern.
| Format | What happens | What is rewarded | Where (official or reported) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GD (group discussion) | A topic is announced, sometimes with a minute to think, and the group discusses it for a fixed time while the panel watches and takes notes. Sometimes a summary is asked of one or all. | Content with structure, clear English, listening and building, moving the group forward, composure under interruption | XLRI ("personal interview and/or group discussion", 2027 prospectus, official); IIFT, MDI and several others in recent cycles (reported); the format of the year is in the call letter |
| GE (group exercise) | The group is given a task: rank options, solve a case, plan a launch, build something from materials. The output matters less than how it was reached. | Cooperation, initiative without domination, process (time-keeping, summarising, bringing in the quiet), decision under a clock | SNAP institutes: "Group Exercise and Personal Interaction process conducted separately by each institute" (snaptest.org, official) |
| CD (case discussion) | A short business situation is read, then discussed as a GD, often ending with a recommendation. | Identifying the decision, weighing options against stated criteria, practical recommendations, not re-telling the case | NMIMS and some others (reported) |
| WAT (written ability test) | A short essay on a given topic before the PI, usually handwritten as candidates report it. | Position in line one, ordered reasons, a fair counter, plain English | IIM Calcutta: 8 of 100 in final selection (2027-29 procedure, official); most IIMs (reported); full guide on the WAT page |
The practical consequence: prepare every topic in two forms, a thirty-second spoken entry and a five-paragraph written outline. The entry serves the GD and the CD; the outline serves the WAT and, read aloud with a frame, the GE opening. One hour of preparation on a topic then covers all four rounds.
Which schools run which round (as reported; check your call letter)
No business school publishes a stable, year-on-year description of its group round in a place our fetcher could read this week. XLRI's 2027 admission prospectus says only that candidates may be called for a "personal interview and/or group discussion", and its admission-procedure page returned only its footer to us on 21 October 2026. The table is therefore a pattern from candidate reports and past admission notices, and it exists so that you know what to look for, not so that you can skip reading the notice. The institute's call letter overrides every row.
| School | Entrance test | Group round in recent cycles (reported) | What to read before you go |
|---|---|---|---|
| XLRI Jamshedpur | XAT (3 January 2027, official) | Official: "personal interview and/or group discussion" (2027 prospectus). Reported: GD followed by PI, topics mixing current affairs and abstract lines | The XLRI admission notice for the 2027-29 batch when it is published; our XAT, SNAP, NMAT and CMAT page |
| SIBM Pune, SCMHRD and the other Symbiosis institutes | SNAP (13, 19, 26 December 2026, official) | Group Exercise plus Personal Interaction, each institute's own process (official term); some also use a written test | Each institute's admission page after the SNAP result |
| NMIMS Mumbai | NMAT by GMAC (window not re-read this week; mba.com is script-only to our fetcher) | Case discussion and PI | The NMIMS CD-PI schedule mail |
| IIFT | CAT (as reported; IIFT's admission pages could not be read this week) | Writing test, GD and PI in various combinations by year | The IIFT admission notice |
| MDI Gurgaon | CAT | GD or extempore plus PI, varying by year | The MDI shortlist mail |
| FMS Delhi | CAT | Extempore and PI in recent cycles; GD in earlier ones | The FMS admission notice for the year |
| SPJIMR Mumbai | CAT, XAT, GMAT | Group interviews and individual interviews rather than a classic GD | The SPJIMR process page after shortlisting |
| IMT Ghaziabad, TAPMI, Great Lakes, XIMB and others | CAT, XAT, CMAT and others | Mostly GD or WAT plus PI; some run case-based rounds | Each institute's notice |
| The IIMs | CAT | No GD: WAT and PI (IIM Calcutta official; others reported). IIM Ahmedabad runs an AWT (reported) | Each IIM's admission policy PDF and call letter |
How a GD is assessed, and what panels actually write down
No school we could read publishes a GD rubric, so the criteria below are reconstructed from the task and from what candidates consistently report hearing in feedback, not from an official sheet. They are still useful, because every rubric we have seen described by candidates reduces to the same four columns on a panel's note sheet.
| What the panel notes | What earns a tick | What earns a cross |
|---|---|---|
| Content | A point the group had not heard; a frame that organised the discussion; an example or mechanism rather than an adjective | Repeating a point already made; a figure that another participant corrects; generalities |
| Communication | Short sentences the group could follow; a point made in thirty seconds; audible without shouting | A minute-long entry with three points tangled together; speaking to the panel instead of the group; fillers ("basically", "like") in every clause |
| Group behaviour | Building on a named person's point; bringing in someone who has not spoken; conceding a good point from an opponent | Interrupting mid-sentence; talking over a quieter participant; dismissing a point without engaging it |
| Initiative and direction | A good opening; a mid-round correction of drift ("we have spent five minutes on the past; the question is what to do now"); a fair summary | A weak opening taken for the sake of it; a summary that restates only your own view |
Two implications. First, the person who speaks most is rarely the person who scores most; the person who added the most and treated the group best is. Second, the quiet participant who makes two good entries and a fair summary can outscore the loud one, but the participant who makes no entry cannot be scored at all. Plan your entries the way you plan a WAT: an opening or an early frame, a middle point that adds a dimension, and a summary.
Entry, build and summary lines
These are the sentence patterns that make a GD entry sound like a contribution rather than an interruption. Each is short on purpose; the content you attach to it comes from the topic bank below. The full set of phrases, with when to use each, is on our group discussion phrases page, and the behaviour rules are on the GD tips page.
Opening the discussion (about thirty seconds)
- "The topic asks whether X. Before we take sides, it may help to separate three questions: is it happening, is it good, and what should be done. On the first, ..."
- "I would like to start by narrowing the topic. 'Freebies' covers everything from free grain to loan waivers; the disagreement is really about unfunded promises, so let us focus there."
- "Let me put a position on the table so the group has something to react to: I think X, for two reasons, and I would like to hear where others disagree."
Entering mid-discussion
- "Building on what Priya said about rider safety, the same logic applies to pay: ..." (name the person; it signals listening and it is noted).
- "We have agreed on the problem; may I move us to solutions? One option is ..."
- "I would push back on one point. The claim that X assumes Y, and Y is not true in the case of ..."
- "There is a view we have not heard yet, the small firm's. For a shop with four staff, ..."
Bringing someone in, and handling interruptions
- "Rahul has been trying to come in for a while; Rahul, you were going to say something on the cost side?"
- "One moment, let me finish the sentence, and then I would like to hear your objection." (said calmly, once; then stop and let them speak).
Summarising
- "To sum up where the group reached: we agreed that A, we disagreed on B, with the main objection being C, and most of us leaned towards D as the practical step. That is a fair summary of the group, not only of my view."
The thirty-second rule
Every entry fits in thirty seconds: a claim, one reason or example, and a stop. If you need a minute, you have two points; make one now and keep the other for your next entry. Groups follow short entries and panels can write them down. A minute-long entry is usually a sign that the speaker is thinking aloud.
The 80 topics with five points each
Eighty topics in eight groups, each with five points: the strongest case for, the strongest case against, a dimension groups usually miss, a practical landing, and a trap to avoid. No point carries a statistic. Where a topic turns on a current figure, write the figure and its source into the margin the week of your round. Topics 1 to 60 on the WAT page are a further bank built the same way; between the two pages you will not meet a topic family you have not argued at least once.
A. Economy and markets
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 1. Is India's growth jobless? | (1) For: output has grown faster than formal employment and much of the work created is informal. (2) Against: employment data undercounts self-employment and gig work; manufacturing hiring responds with a lag. (3) Missed: the quality of jobs matters more than the count. (4) Landing: labour-intensive sectors and skilling tied to employers. (5) Trap: quoting an unemployment figure you cannot source. |
| 2. Should India worry about its trade deficit? | (1) For: a persistent deficit means dependence on imported energy and electronics. (2) Against: services exports and remittances offset it; deficits in investment goods are healthy. (3) Missed: the composition of imports matters more than the total. (4) Landing: reduce energy and electronics dependence, not trade. (5) Trap: treating every import as a loss. |
| 3. Inflation targeting: has it worked for India? | (1) For: price expectations have anchored since the framework began. (2) Against: food prices drive Indian inflation and respond to rain, not rates. (3) Missed: the cost to growth of holding rates high. (4) Landing: keep the target, widen the toolkit for supply shocks. (5) Trap: confusing headline and core inflation in the room. |
| 4. Should the government reduce its stake in public sector enterprises? | (1) For: capital for public spending, better governance. (2) Against: strategic sectors and the signal of selling in a downturn. (3) Missed: the difference between disinvestment and privatisation. (4) Landing: sell non-strategic firms fully rather than slivers of everything. (5) Trap: arguing about one company instead of the policy. |
| 5. Is the rupee's fall a problem or an adjustment? | (1) For: imported inflation and the cost of foreign debt. (2) Against: a weaker currency helps exporters and reflects interest rate differences. (3) Missed: volatility hurts more than the level. (4) Landing: manage volatility, not the level. (5) Trap: predicting the exchange rate. |
| 6. Should India have a wealth tax? | (1) For: inequality and the narrow income tax base. (2) Against: valuation disputes, capital flight, low revenue where tried. (3) Missed: the tax on inheritance is a separate debate. (4) Landing: close exemptions and tax capital gains well before a new tax. (5) Trap: moral outrage instead of design. |
| 7. The stock market is not the economy | (1) For: a few large firms drive indices; most Indians do not own shares. (2) Against: markets price expectations of the economy and fund investment. (3) Missed: retail participation has changed who is exposed. (4) Landing: judge the economy by jobs and incomes; judge markets by markets. (5) Trap: using the index as proof of policy success or failure. |
| 8. Should India join a regional trade bloc? | (1) For: supply chains are regional; staying out means staying out of them. (2) Against: domestic industry and farmers face import surges. (3) Missed: standards and rules of origin matter more than tariff lines. (4) Landing: bilateral deals with safeguards as a route in. (5) Trap: naming a bloc's terms you have not read. |
| 9. Is a cashless India desirable? | (1) For: traceability, convenience, lower cash-handling costs. (2) Against: exclusion of the old and offline, dependence on networks, privacy. (3) Missed: less cash is not no cash. (4) Landing: digital by default, cash as a right. (5) Trap: treating a payment habit as a moral quality. |
| 10. Should fuel prices be freed from government control entirely? | (1) For: fiscal cost of subsidies, market signals for consumption. (2) Against: inflation pass-through to transport and food. (3) Missed: taxes, not crude, are a large part of the pump price. (4) Landing: free pricing with a targeted transfer for the poor. (5) Trap: arguing from this week's price. |
B. Business and management
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 11. Is the MBA still worth it? | (1) For: the network, the switch of function or sector, structured exposure to every business area. (2) Against: cost, two years out of work, skills that online courses now teach. (3) Missed: the degree is worth different amounts to different profiles. (4) Landing: worth it for a defined switch, not as a default. (5) Trap: answering as a candidate rather than as an analyst. |
| 12. Should CEOs' pay be capped relative to the median employee? | (1) For: fairness, morale, a check on boards. (2) Against: talent competes globally; caps push pay into other forms. (3) Missed: disclosure of the ratio already changes behaviour. (4) Landing: disclose and let shareholders vote. (5) Trap: naming a specific ratio without a source. |
| 13. Moonlighting: breach of trust or a worker's right? | (1) For: a worker's time outside hours is their own; incomes are stretched. (2) Against: conflict of interest, confidentiality, fatigue. (3) Missed: the issue is disclosure, not the second job. (4) Landing: permit with disclosure and a conflict rule. (5) Trap: arguing from one company's sacking. |
| 14. Is the Indian start-up ecosystem built on copying Western models? | (1) For: many early successes were adaptations. (2) Against: payments, logistics and vernacular products are home-grown solutions to local problems. (3) Missed: adaptation to a different market is itself innovation. (4) Landing: judge by problem solved, not by origin of idea. (5) Trap: dismissing adaptation as unoriginal. |
| 15. Should companies be forced to spend on corporate social responsibility? | (1) For: companies use public goods; a floor ensures contribution. (2) Against: box-ticking spend, better done through tax. (3) Missed: the quality of spend varies more than the amount. (4) Landing: keep the floor, publish outcomes. (5) Trap: assuming all CSR is cosmetic. |
| 16. Work-life balance is a myth in high-growth careers | (1) For: early years demand intensity and the market rewards it. (2) Against: sustained overwork lowers output and drives attrition. (3) Missed: balance over a career differs from balance in every week. (4) Landing: seasons of intensity with real recovery. (5) Trap: hero stories as evidence. |
| 17. Are influencers the new advertising? | (1) For: trust and reach among the young; lower cost. (2) Against: undisclosed paid promotion, fraud in metrics, fading trust. (3) Missed: regulation of disclosure is the real question. (4) Landing: a channel, not a replacement; disclose paid content. (5) Trap: anecdotes about one influencer. |
| 18. Should Indian companies stop hiring on the basis of college brand? | (1) For: brand is a weak proxy for skill and excludes talent. (2) Against: screening cost at scale; brands signal selection already done. (3) Missed: the proxy works at entry and fails afterwards. (4) Landing: skill tests at entry, performance thereafter. (5) Trap: pleading your own case. |
| 19. Is customer data a company's asset or a liability? | (1) For: personalisation, pricing and product decisions depend on it. (2) Against: breach costs, regulatory penalties, loss of trust. (3) Missed: data you do not need is pure liability. (4) Landing: collect less, protect more. (5) Trap: treating consent as a formality. |
| 20. Family-run or professionally managed: which serves shareholders better? | (1) For family: long horizons and patient capital. (2) For professional: governance and succession. (3) Missed: many successful firms combine family ownership with professional management. (4) Landing: ownership and management are separate questions. (5) Trap: one famous feud as proof. |
C. Policy and governance
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 21. Should India move to a presidential system? | (1) For: stability, direct mandate, clear accountability. (2) Against: concentration of power, a diverse federation needs coalitions. (3) Missed: the question is really about checks on the executive. (4) Landing: strengthen parliament and the states within the existing system. (5) Trap: comparing to one foreign country. |
| 22. Is reservation in private sector jobs the next step? | (1) For: public sector hiring has shrunk; the social goal remains. (2) Against: compliance costs, competitiveness, the risk of tokenism. (3) Missed: incentives and skilling can achieve inclusion differently. (4) Landing: targets with incentives before mandates. (5) Trap: an argument about merit without defining it. |
| 23. Should the retirement age be raised? | (1) For: longer lives, pension pressure, experience retained. (2) Against: youth unemployment, blocked promotions, physical jobs. (3) Missed: flexible retirement differs from a higher fixed age. (4) Landing: raise it gradually with flexible options by occupation. (5) Trap: a single age for every job. |
| 24. Are state governments too dependent on the centre for money? | (1) For: tax powers moved to the centre; states depend on transfers. (2) Against: the devolution formula and borrowing limits protect discipline. (3) Missed: cities are more starved than states. (4) Landing: a predictable, formula-based share and more city finance. (5) Trap: partisan framing. |
| 25. Should India have a population policy? | (1) For: resource pressure in some states; incentives already exist. (2) Against: fertility is already falling; coercion backfires. (3) Missed: the problem has flipped to ageing in some states. (4) Landing: education and health, not quotas. (5) Trap: a two-child rule as the only meaning of policy. |
| 26. Is judicial activism good for democracy? | (1) For: courts protect rights when legislatures fail. (2) Against: unelected judges deciding policy; delay in ordinary cases. (3) Missed: pendency is the bigger judicial problem. (4) Landing: restraint on policy, speed on cases. (5) Trap: arguing one recent judgment. |
| 27. Should India have simultaneous elections to local bodies too? | (1) For: cost and continuity. (2) Against: local issues disappear; terms are disrupted. (3) Missed: local bodies lack funds more than they lack synchrony. (4) Landing: fund local bodies first. (5) Trap: treating it as a national-level question only. |
| 28. Is the right to privacy compatible with a digital welfare state? | (1) For: targeting needs identity and data. (2) Against: profiling, exclusion when systems fail, mission creep. (3) Missed: purpose limitation is the test. (4) Landing: collect for one purpose, delete after, audit. (5) Trap: "nothing to hide". |
| 29. Should internet shutdowns be banned? | (1) For: economic and educational cost; disproportionate. (2) Against: public order in a riot; misinformation. (3) Missed: targeted and time-limited differs from blanket. (4) Landing: judicial review and a time limit. (5) Trap: absolutes on either side. |
| 30. Does India need a bullet train? | (1) For: a technology leap, corridor development, a signal. (2) Against: cost per passenger; conventional rail upgrades serve more. (3) Missed: the question is opportunity cost, not the train. (4) Landing: one corridor as a pilot, the rest of the budget to upgrades. (5) Trap: arguing with a ticket price you have not checked. |
D. Technology and work
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 31. Will AI make the Indian IT services model obsolete? | (1) For: code generation and support automation hit the labour-arbitrage core. (2) Against: integration, maintenance and accountability still need people; firms sell the tools too. (3) Missed: the pyramid changes shape before the industry shrinks. (4) Landing: fewer juniors, more specialists; retrain. (5) Trap: predicting a date. |
| 32. Should AI-generated content be labelled by law? | (1) For: deepfakes, trust, informed audiences. (2) Against: enforcement, free speech, labels get stripped. (3) Missed: provenance of the real matters more than labels on the fake. (4) Landing: platform duties and provenance standards. (5) Trap: assuming labels stop deception. |
| 33. Is the smartphone the best thing that happened to rural India? | (1) For: payments, prices, information, government services. (2) Against: misinformation, gambling, children's screen time. (3) Missed: the phone changed access; outcomes depend on what is accessed. (4) Landing: content and literacy, not the device. (5) Trap: urban assumptions about use. |
| 34. Should gig platforms be made employers? | (1) For: control over work is employment in all but name. (2) Against: flexibility ends; costs rise; fewer earn. (3) Missed: a third category with portable benefits. (4) Landing: benefits tied to the worker, funded by platforms. (5) Trap: arguing from one platform's model. |
| 35. Is remote work bad for young professionals? | (1) For: learning by watching, networks, mentorship are lost. (2) Against: access from smaller cities, no commute, output holds. (3) Missed: the cost falls on the junior, the benefit on the senior. (4) Landing: in-office early, hybrid later. (5) Trap: a universal rule for every role. |
| 36. Should India build its own large language models? | (1) For: Indian languages, data sovereignty, strategic dependence. (2) Against: cost, compute, talent; open models exist. (3) Missed: fine-tuning for Indian use differs from training from scratch. (4) Landing: invest in data and applications; train where open models fail. (5) Trap: prestige as a reason. |
| 37. Is online gaming a sunrise industry or a public health problem? | (1) For industry: jobs, exports, creativity. (2) For problem: addiction, debt from real-money games. (3) Missed: skill games and gambling are different products. (4) Landing: regulate real-money play, support the rest. (5) Trap: treating all games alike. |
| 38. Do algorithms make hiring fairer? | (1) For: consistency, scale, less human bias in screening. (2) Against: trained on biased history; opaque. (3) Missed: an audited algorithm can be fairer than an unaudited human. (4) Landing: use with audits and a human appeal. (5) Trap: "the computer decided". |
| 39. Should the right to disconnect be a law? | (1) For: health, boundaries, measurable output. (2) Against: global teams, emergencies, flexibility. (3) Missed: norms set by managers matter more than law. (4) Landing: a right to not be penalised, not a ban on messages. (5) Trap: ignoring the small firm. |
| 40. Is technology widening or narrowing inequality in India? | (1) Widening: returns to skill rise; the connected pull away. (2) Narrowing: access to markets, credit and information for the excluded. (3) Missed: the answer differs by technology. (4) Landing: public rails narrow, private platforms widen; policy decides the mix. (5) Trap: one side only. |
E. Society and youth
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 41. Are arranged marriages outdated? | (1) For: autonomy, compatibility, equality. (2) Against: family support, lower expectations of romance, choice within arrangement. (3) Missed: the practice has changed more than the label. (4) Landing: consent is the test, not the route. (5) Trap: anecdote as data. |
| 42. Should India legalise same-sex marriage? | (1) For: equality, dignity, practical rights (inheritance, hospital, insurance). (2) Against: legislative rather than judicial route; social readiness. (3) Missed: civil unions as an interim step. (4) Landing: legislate rights now; the label can follow. (5) Trap: disrespect to any participant. |
| 43. Is the joint family making a comeback? | (1) For: housing costs, childcare, elder care. (2) Against: migration and nuclear households continue to grow. (3) Missed: the form is changing, not returning. (4) Landing: policy for care across households, not a family model. (5) Trap: nostalgia. |
| 44. Should India ban opinion polls before elections? | (1) For: bandwagon effects; poor methodology. (2) Against: free speech; bans push polls underground. (3) Missed: disclosure of method is the real fix. (4) Landing: regulate disclosure, not publication. (5) Trap: citing a poll that was wrong as proof of all polls. |
| 45. Does reality television harm society? | (1) For: manufactured conflict, voyeurism, unrealistic norms. (2) Against: entertainment; audiences choose; it reflects rather than shapes. (3) Missed: children's exposure. (4) Landing: ratings and time slots, not bans. (5) Trap: snobbery. |
| 46. Should voting age be lowered to sixteen? | (1) For: stake in long-term decisions; civic habit formed early. (2) Against: maturity, manipulation, consistency with other ages of majority. (3) Missed: turnout among the young is the bigger issue. (4) Landing: civic education and easy registration first. (5) Trap: assuming the young vote one way. |
| 47. Is India's demographic dividend a dividend or a liability? | (1) Dividend: a young workforce when others age. (2) Liability: without jobs and skills, a young population is unrest. (3) Missed: the window is time-bound and differs by state. (4) Landing: skilling and jobs within the window. (5) Trap: treating demography as destiny. |
| 48. Should fast food be taxed like tobacco? | (1) For: public health costs; price works. (2) Against: regressive; definition problems; nanny state. (3) Missed: labelling and school rules may work with less distortion. (4) Landing: tax sugar-sweetened drinks, label the rest. (5) Trap: moralising about food. |
| 49. Are Indian weddings an economic engine or a social burden? | (1) Engine: jobs across hospitality, textiles, jewellery. (2) Burden: debt, dowry pressure, status competition. (3) Missed: the engine and the burden fall on different households. (4) Landing: enforce dowry law; leave spending to families. (5) Trap: prescribing frugality. |
| 50. Should the national language debate be put to rest? | (1) For: it divides more than it unites; the constitution already settled it. (2) Against: a link language has practical value. (3) Missed: English already functions as a link in commerce; the fight is about identity. (4) Landing: multilingualism as policy, no imposition. (5) Trap: disrespecting any language in the room. |
F. Education and careers
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 51. Are entrance exams the fairest way to allocate seats? | (1) For: objective, anonymous, resistant to influence. (2) Against: coaching advantage, one-day luck, narrow skills. (3) Missed: fairness of process and fairness of outcome differ. (4) Landing: exams plus multiple attempts plus holistic review for the margin. (5) Trap: pleading your own result. |
| 52. Should engineering seats be cut? | (1) For: many colleges produce unemployable graduates; seats go vacant. (2) Against: demand is the market's job; quality, not quantity, is the issue. (3) Missed: accreditation and closure of bad colleges is the real policy. (4) Landing: enforce quality; let seats follow. (5) Trap: the "unemployable engineers" figure without a source. |
| 53. Is foreign education worth the loan? | (1) For: exposure, networks, immigration routes. (2) Against: currency risk, visa rules changing, equal programmes at home. (3) Missed: the answer depends on the programme and the country's work rules. (4) Landing: decide per programme with a repayment plan. (5) Trap: prestige as the reason. |
| 54. Should attendance be compulsory in college? | (1) For: structure, peer learning, accountability. (2) Against: adults, quality of lectures, internships. (3) Missed: attendance is a proxy for engagement. (4) Landing: assess engagement, not presence. (5) Trap: arguing from your own college. |
| 55. Is the government job obsession hurting India's youth? | (1) For: years lost in preparation; a narrow definition of success. (2) Against: security and dignity are rational preferences where private jobs are poor. (3) Missed: fix private job quality and the obsession fades. (4) Landing: better private jobs and time-limited attempts. (5) Trap: contempt for the aspirant. |
| 56. Should internships be paid by law? | (1) For: unpaid internships favour the rich; work deserves pay. (2) Against: fewer internships; small firms opt out. (3) Missed: academic credit versus labour. (4) Landing: pay for work beyond a short period; credit for the rest. (5) Trap: ignoring the small firm's economics. |
| 57. Should schools teach coding from primary classes? | (1) For: computational thinking, future skills. (2) Against: reading and arithmetic come first; teacher shortage. (3) Missed: logic can be taught without screens. (4) Landing: thinking skills early, coding later. (5) Trap: confusing coding with digital literacy. |
| 58. Is a liberal arts education a luxury India cannot afford? | (1) For: jobs need technical skills; costs. (2) Against: judgement, communication and adaptability are what employers say they lack. (3) Missed: the dichotomy is false; the best programmes combine both. (4) Landing: breadth with a skill. (5) Trap: disrespecting either path. |
| 59. Should campus placements be abolished? | (1) For: herd choices, pressure, employer power over colleges. (2) Against: access for students without networks; efficiency. (3) Missed: the rules of placements, not their existence, cause the harm. (4) Landing: reform the rules (dream-company exceptions, timing). (5) Trap: arguing from one season. |
| 60. Does the ranking of colleges help students or institutions? | (1) Helps students: information, accountability. (2) Helps institutions: marketing, gaming the metrics. (3) Missed: what is measured gets optimised. (4) Landing: publish the data behind the rank, not just the rank. (5) Trap: quoting a rank. |
G. Environment, energy and global affairs
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 61. Can India grow without coal? | (1) For: renewables are cheaper per unit; storage is improving. (2) Against: firm power for industry and nights; jobs in coal states. (3) Missed: the pace of the transition, not the direction, is the debate. (4) Landing: grow renewables, retire coal by age, fund the regions. (5) Trap: a date for zero coal. |
| 62. Is carbon pricing right for India? | (1) For: the cheapest emission cuts happen first; revenue. (2) Against: regressive, competitiveness, administrative burden. (3) Missed: India already taxes fuels heavily. (4) Landing: a trading scheme for large emitters, transfers for households. (5) Trap: a price per tonne from memory. |
| 63. Should India ban single-use plastic entirely? | (1) For: litter, waterways, animal harm. (2) Against: enforcement failure, costlier substitutes, small sellers. (3) Missed: collection and producer responsibility. (4) Landing: ban the worst items, collect the rest. (5) Trap: assuming a ban is enforcement. |
| 64. Are Indian cities prepared for floods? | (1) For: drainage plans and early warnings exist. (2) Against: built-over lakes, encroached drains, concrete everywhere. (3) Missed: planning is a state subject; cities lack power. (4) Landing: restore water bodies; give cities planning power and money. (5) Trap: one city's flood as the whole story. |
| 65. Should wildlife protection override local livelihoods? | (1) For: extinction is irreversible; forests are a national asset. (2) Against: displacement without consent is unjust; communities protect forests. (3) Missed: community-managed conservation. (4) Landing: rights plus shared revenue. (5) Trap: either-or. |
| 66. Is multilateralism dead? | (1) For: trade bodies paralysed, security councils deadlocked. (2) Against: climate, health and finance still run on treaties. (3) Missed: smaller coalitions are multilateralism too. (4) Landing: reform plus issue-based groups. (5) Trap: naming a treaty's clause from memory. |
| 67. Should India take a side in great-power rivalry? | (1) For: alignment brings technology, security and markets. (2) Against: dependence, loss of leverage, a long border to manage. (3) Missed: issue-by-issue alignment is itself a side. (4) Landing: partnerships with limits, no bloc. (5) Trap: partisan foreign-policy claims. |
| 68. Is migration a loss or a gain for India? | (1) Loss: skilled workers trained at public cost leave. (2) Gain: remittances, diaspora networks, return migration. (3) Missed: internal migration is the larger story. (4) Landing: make return attractive; protect internal migrants. (5) Trap: "brain drain" as the only frame. |
| 69. Should water be priced? | (1) For: waste in farms and cities; no price means no conservation. (2) Against: a right to water; farmers' incomes. (3) Missed: a free basic quantity and a price above it. (4) Landing: lifeline free, volumetric pricing above it. (5) Trap: treating pricing as denial. |
| 70. Is space exploration a luxury for a developing country? | (1) For: money for health and schools first. (2) Against: satellites run weather, farming, banking and defence; the cost is small. (3) Missed: the commercial launch market. (4) Landing: applications first, exploration as a measured share. (5) Trap: emotional appeals either way. |
H. Abstract and case-style
| Topic | Five points to carry in |
|---|---|
| 71. Red | (1) Danger, stop, loss on a balance sheet. (2) Energy, celebration, auspiciousness in Indian weddings. (3) Missed: the same signal means different things across cultures and contexts. (4) Landing: meaning is assigned by context; good communication makes the context explicit. (5) Trap: listing associations without an argument. |
| 72. Winning is not everything | (1) For: process, ethics and learning outlast results. (2) Against: results are how the world keeps score; "it is not everything" often excuses losing. (3) Missed: define the game before judging the win. (4) Landing: win the right games the right way. (5) Trap: platitudes. |
| 73. Too many cooks spoil the broth | (1) For: coordination costs, diffused accountability. (2) Against: diverse teams catch errors; the saying excuses exclusion. (3) Missed: the problem is no head cook, not many cooks. (4) Landing: many voices, one owner. (5) Trap: staying on cooking. |
| 74. Is loyalty a virtue in business? | (1) For: trust lowers transaction costs; retention. (2) Against: loyalty to a bad firm or boss is a vice; it stifles exit. (3) Missed: loyalty to values differs from loyalty to people. (4) Landing: be loyal to standards; firms earn the rest. (5) Trap: confusing loyalty with tenure. |
| 75. The best things in life are free | (1) For: relationships, health, time. (2) Against: they are not free; they cost attention, and someone pays for the park. (3) Missed: free at the point of use is not free. (4) Landing: value is not price, but nothing is costless. (5) Trap: sentimentality. |
| 76. Case: a profitable product is found to be addictive to teenagers. What should the company do? | (1) Identify the decision: continue, modify, or withdraw. (2) Criteria: harm, law, reputation, revenue. (3) Missed: who inside the company knew, and when. (4) Landing: age controls and design changes now; disclose; accept the revenue cost. (5) Trap: discussing the ethics without reaching a decision. |
| 77. Case: your start-up can hit its growth target only by delaying vendor payments. Do you? | (1) Decision: delay, renegotiate, or miss the target. (2) Criteria: contract terms, vendor survival, relationship, investor trust. (3) Missed: the target was set by whom and can be reset. (4) Landing: renegotiate openly; miss the target rather than break small vendors. (5) Trap: treating the target as sacred. |
| 78. Case: a factory's cheapest fix for pollution is legal but harms a village downstream. Decide. | (1) Decision: cheapest fix, better fix, or relocate. (2) Criteria: harm, legal risk changing, licence to operate, cost. (3) Missed: the village's consent and compensation. (4) Landing: the better fix with a timeline; compensation meanwhile. (5) Trap: "it is legal" as the whole answer. |
| 79. Case: you discover a senior colleague inflating sales numbers. What do you do? | (1) Options: confront, report, ignore, document. (2) Criteria: evidence, harm, process available, your own exposure. (3) Missed: verify before accusing. (4) Landing: document, use the formal channel, escalate if ignored. (5) Trap: heroics without evidence. |
| 80. Case: a city must choose between a metro line and a bus network for the same money. Advise. | (1) Decision criteria: ridership, cost per trip, time to build, coverage. (2) The metro: capacity on dense corridors, long build. (3) The bus network: fast, wide, flexible, lower prestige. (4) Landing: buses now, metro on the one corridor that justifies it, integrated fares. (5) Trap: prestige as a criterion. |
A worked GD opening (written by TalkDrill)
The first two minutes of a GD on topic 3, "Quick commerce is good for India", written by TalkDrill to show entries of thirty seconds that frame, build and push back. Four of eight participants are shown; the names are invented and no line is a real candidate's.
Transcript (TalkDrill, illustrative)
Aarav (opening): "The topic says quick commerce is good for India. I would separate three questions so we do not talk past each other: is it good for consumers, is it good for the workers and shops it touches, and is it good for the economy as a whole. On consumers the answer is clearly yes; the other two are where the debate is. I will start with workers: a delivery rider earns an income with no formal job, which is a gain, but earns it with no insurance and a ten-minute clock, which is a cost. I would like to hear how others weigh that."
Meera (building): "Building on Aarav's worker point, the shop side has the same two faces. A dark store buys from the same distributors a kirana does, so the kirana loses the customers who want speed but keeps those who want credit and conversation. The ones at risk are the kiranas in dense city neighbourhoods, not the village shop. So the harm is real but narrower than 'kiranas will die'."
Karan (pushing back): "I would push back on one assumption. We are treating the ten-minute promise as given. The firms chose it for marketing, and the rider safety cost follows from that choice, not from quick commerce itself. If regulation set a floor on delivery time or a liability for rider accidents, most of the worker harm goes away and the consumer benefit stays. So the question is not whether it is good, but under which rules."
Sana (bringing in, then adding): "Divya has been trying to come in; Divya, you were going to say something on the economy side? (Divya speaks.) To add one point to that: the data these firms collect on what a neighbourhood buys at what hour is a public-interest asset for city planning, and nobody has mentioned who owns it."
Notice what the panel would write down. Aarav framed; Meera built and narrowed; Karan found the assumption; Sana managed the group and added a dimension. Nobody quoted a figure. Nobody spoke for more than thirty-five seconds. The discussion is already structured enough that the summary at the end will be easy, and whoever gives it fairly will collect the last tick.
Mistakes by first language
Every round here is in English, and no school we read lists accent as a criterion. What panels do notice is anything that makes an entry hard to follow in a noisy circle. These are common patterns by first language, each with the fix; the longer treatment, with drills, is on the spoken English for the PI page.
| First language | What gets in the way in a GD | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Hindi | "Basically" and "actually" opening every entry; "only" and "itself" as emphasis ("the policy itself is wrong only"); progressive for states ("I am agreeing") | Open with the claim, not a filler; practise entries that start with "I think" or "The problem is"; "I agree" not "I am agreeing" |
| Marathi | v/w ("wery", "vhat"); "na" as a tag seeking agreement; flat stress that hides the key word | Minimal-pair drill for v/w; replace "na?" with "would you agree?"; stress the one word that carries the point |
| Tamil | Voicing slips (p/b, t/d); rising intonation on statements so claims sound like questions; "only" for emphasis | Fall at the end of a claim; record and listen for the rise; cut "only" |
| Telugu and Kannada | s/sh; fast delivery under adrenaline so the group misses the point; vowel length ("leave" and "live") | One breath per clause; slow the first sentence of every entry; minimal pairs for s/sh and vowel length |
| Gujarati | v/w; stress on the wrong syllable in long words ("deVElopment"); "no?" as a tag | Word-stress drill on common GD nouns; stress "deVELopment"; drop the tag |
| Bengali | v/b ("bery"); s/sh; added vowel before clusters ("estate" for "state") | v/b minimal pairs; practise "state", "school", "strategy" without the leading vowel |
Practice route
A GD cannot be practised alone, and that is the main reason candidates under-prepare it. The route below assumes a January shortlist and a February or March round; the full six-week plan with WAT, PI, documents and travel is the CAT result to PI day roadmap.
- Week 1: content. Ten topics a day from the bank above, read with the five points covered and recalled aloud. Then one thirty-second entry recorded per topic. Listen back for fillers and length only.
- Week 2: the circle. One GD a day in the group discussion practice room, where AI participants interrupt, agree and drift the way a real group does; take a random topic from the GD topic generator so you cannot prepare it. Aim for three entries: a frame, a build, a summary.
- Week 3: behaviour. Practise the hard moments on purpose: being interrupted twice, a group that drifts to the past, a participant who dominates. Use the entry lines above until they are automatic. If you have a SNAP call, do two rounds as a Group Exercise: give the group a task with a time limit and practise process, not debate.
- Week 4: the full day. A timed WAT from the WAT page, a GD on a different topic, then a twenty-minute AI mock interview in which the panel asks about your GD position, which is how several schools open the PI as candidates report. Interview clothes, no notes.
- The week of the round: one page of dated facts from official sources (the budget, the central bank's statement, a ministry release), nothing from memory. Read the institute's notice for the format once more. Sleep.
If you also have placement GDs this season, the placement GD topics page covers the company-round topics, which lean more towards workplace and industry questions than policy. The behaviour is the same.
Sources
- SNAP 2026 official site: test dates 13, 19 and 26 December 2026; "Group Exercise and Personal Interaction process conducted separately by each institute"; registration fee Rs 2,550 per test and Rs 1,000 per programme plus taxes; up to three attempts with the higher score counted and no normalisation. Read 21 October 2026.
- XAT 2027 official site and the XAT 2027 bulletin: exam on Sunday 3 January 2027, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm; registration 15 July to 6 December 2026; admit card 20 December 2026 (tentative); last official mock tests 31 October and 1 November 2026; registration fee Rs 2,300, plus Rs 200 for each XLRI programme; result in the last week of January 2027. Read 21 October 2026 and re-checked weekly.
- IIM Calcutta, MBA 2027-29 admission procedure for domestic candidates: Writing Ability Test (WAT) and PI named, no group discussion; final selection CAT 30, PI 48, WAT 8, academic diversity 6, work experience 8. Read 21 October 2026.
- CAT 2026 official site: the test on Sunday 29 November 2026; the portal's text cannot be read by our fetcher, so the date is stated per iimcat.ac.in and the CAT 2026 advertisement.
- XLRI admission prospectus 2027: selection considers XAT performance, academic background, relevant work experience, "performance in the personal interview and/or group discussion" and extracurricular activities; it gives no format detail. The XLRI admission-procedure page returned only its footer to our fetcher on 21 October 2026, so the format detail is labelled as reported. NMIMS, IIFT, MDI, FMS, SPJIMR and the other institutes' formats are from candidate reports and past notices, labelled unofficial; NMAT's window and fee were not re-read (mba.com is script-only to our fetcher).
- The assessment table, the entry lines, the eighty topics with their points, the first-language table and the worked GD opening are TalkDrill's own work.
Last checked 21 October 2026. The dates block at the top of this page is rendered from our exam calendar and is re-checked weekly.