Interview with Avik Sinha
Avik Sinha
Associate Professor at GIM
Goa, India
Q1. Please share your educational and professional journey with us?
I have done my B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT Durgapur, followed by PGDM in Finance from ITM Mumbai. After that, I have worked with TCS for three years and finally joined the FPM at IIM Indore, in the Economics area. After my FPM, I have worked with Accendere Knowledge Management Services, Administrative Staff College of India, and Atria Institute of Technology. Presently, I am associate with Goa Institute of Management, as Associate Professor in the General Management and Economics area.
Q2. What did attract you towards Economics after an Engineering in Electronics and Communication?
While I was doing my PGDM in Finance from ITM Mumbai, I was introduced to Economics. Thanks to my economics faculty Prof. Prema Basargekar, I started loving the subject. She gradually introduced me to various concepts of Economics, and I went on exploring. That was the time I decided to pursue my career in Economics.
Q3. How do you excel students in their academics and career at GIM?
I try to associate the economic concepts with stories and day-to-day life examples, so that students can grasp those concepts easily. I believe, before jumping on to the business cases, it is necessary for the students to understand the flavor of those concepts, as they need to apply them in future. And what can be a better medium than a funny story, or an example, which everyone in the class can relate to? This particular teaching method helps me is exceling the students in GIM in understanding the concepts in a very non-conventional, yet effective way.
Q4. People say that Management Skills comes in any person by birth. Is it possible to develop it by learning?
I also believe that majority of the Management Skills comes in any person by birth. But that does not necessarily mean that some of those skills cannot be learnt. For example, the skills like “Time Management”, “Active Listening”, “Participation”, and “Attention to Details” are some of the skills, which can be learnt by continuous practice. However, the skills like “Leadership”, “Risk Taking Ability”, “Negotiation”, and “Creativity” are very hard to be learnt by mere lessons, as I believe that people are born with these skills.
Q5. You have been doing research for many years. What exactly are your research interests?
My broad domains of research are (a) Energy and Environmental Economics, (b) Applied Econometrics, and (c) Sustainable Development. Recently, I have started looking into the Dark Side of Innovation, while viewing innovation as a tool responsible for tradeoff in developmental policies. On methodological front, I am presently working on Advanced Quantile Modeling, Decomposition-based Inequality Assessment, and Co-movement Analysis.
Q6. Which one thing do you want to change in Education system and why?
The only thing I want to change in the education system is the privatization of the education. Because of this, the quality of education in the government institutions is going down gradually, and the vernacular medium of education is dying out. In order to change this, the government needs to increase the education budget, and enhance the quality of education. In my opinion, the free public education can ensure the eradication of social inequality in the access to quality education, which is presently prevalent due to the high cost associated with private education.
Q7. What kind of problems have you faced maximum in your teaching sessions and how did you solve it?
During the online sessions held in my institute for the period of COVID-19 outbreak, one of the major challenges I found to have the engagement with the students. As the face-to-face interactions were not possible, many students were not able to discuss their doubts with me. In order to solve this issue, I asked the students to open a WhatsApp group, where they can post their doubts 24×7, and I will be giving answers to all those doubts. In case of emergency, the students were also allowed to call me, even at the odd hours. This helped me maintaining a strong student engagement during the period.
Q8. You had both academic and analytic experience in your career. Which one do you like most and why?
It is very difficult to compare, as it will be like comparing apples with oranges. Both of the experiences have their own charms and values. I loved the challenges while working with TCS, just like I love the challenges in the classroom. In my opinion, these two experiences always complement each other, and that’s why I like both of them.
Read more about Avik Sinha @
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/avik-sinha/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=nt_jHGcAAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Avik-Sinha
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aviksinha/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/avik.4you/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avik82sinha/
