Debarshi Chanda

KOLKATA/MUMBAI: Debarshi Chanda, a former student of Jadavpur University , was one of the 10 students nationwide to secure 100 percentile in CAT, one of the most competitive exams to get into premier IIMs.

But, unlike the nine others, Chanda will not enrol for an MBA programme. Instead, he wants to pursue a doctoral programme in Economics at an IIM. The reason: Given the current economic scenario, Chanda believes focusing on India’s economics and socio-economic development is way more important than personal gain.

“I am aware that an MBA can give me more financial security and lead me into a stable future. But having grown up in Kolkata, I am socially and politically conscious and wish to do more than serve myself. I have been a part of several student movements. I believe that at the moment, we need to work towards doing something for the economy,” Chanda said.

Across the country, male engineers dominated the toppers’ list of CAT. Girls did not make it to the list of 21 students who managed to get the next best score of 99.99 percentile.

BITS student ranks highest among women

A girl from Vadodara, a student of BITS-Pilani, got the highest score among females of 99.98 percentile. Over 35% testtakers were girls this year.

Among the 10 toppers, six are IITians and two are from NITs, and one from a deemed university in Karnataka, said an official from IIM-Kozhikode, which conducted CAT 2019.

Debarshi Chanda is a resident of Khardah in North 24 Parganas and an alumnus of Rahara Ramkrishna Mission School. He had ranked 852 in WBJEE in 2014. Chanda joined a private bank as an analyst after passing Electrical Engineering from JU in 2018 but quit the job thereafter and enrolled in Energy Studies at JU.

This is Chanda’s third appearance at CAT.

