A new Lounge has come up in Pune airport called Earth Lounge. This lounge got opened recently on 21st October 2019. Pune airport being a busy airport with many people travelling for business was in dire need of a good Lounge. The one which Pune has called above ground got closed few years back. After the closure of that lounge a new food court opened. The new food court was descent with lot of pocket friendly food options. I have been there few times and enjoyed a snack or two. But this got closed as well a year back. 

This newly opened lounge is situated on gate number 5 at upper level. To be frank it was difficult to locate the lounge even with lot of standees kept at different locations advertising new lounge at gate number 5. The entrance to the lounge is in the same lane as the public washrooms, this is bit weird. But lounge set up is nice. Even though small it has good space for seating. They currently accept diner and master card for entry. But I hope in future they will be accepting other cards. When I went there today at 5am no food was available except pasta. I was not hungry at5 am in the morning but wanted to take a look inside. It looks lounge will have good food options with beverage and drinks counter. When I was there I found the staff to be courteous and willing to help if needed. They served me a coffee which was served from Lavazza coffee machine. It tasted good, I will definitely go there next time for a snacks.

         I hat looks to be Beverage cum drinks counter. It was closed when I went there

                 
Long shot of the restaurant area from middle of the lounge

                Right hand shot from middle of the lounge. A seating area with TV

                  Full view of restaurant with buffet setup at the back

                  Seating room with charging stations and TV. I did not try their WiFi

                    Another shot of seating area

CFA withdrawal option

http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/governance/policies/Pages/level_i_withdrawal_option.aspx

This is the link where candidate can get more information about withdrawing from the CFA  examination if they are not able to appear for exam for any reason. Benefits of withdrawing are as follows.
1. They can register for next exam without the delay charge need o be paid by no show candidates due to waiting period till results. Candidate cannot register for next exam until the results are out, if a person decides to seat for Dec exam level 1 but for some reason cannot appear for the same he cannot pay fees for June exam till the results for Dec are out. This way he may need to shell out extra amount of money than the normal case where he withdraws and then reappears.
2. Withdrawing can reduce the anguish felt by person for waiting a year or so.
There can be lot of reasons why a candidate may need to withdraw but I will always suggest anyone seating for the exam to at least give a try if they have paid the fees, An attempt at least gives the candidate the feel of the exam. They understand the exam format its exhaustiveness and efforts required,
           No show will certainly benefit emotionally but not practically

CFA IS IT LATE FOR ME?

I meet many CFA candidates or wannabe candidates who ask me one question whether it is too late to start  for CFA designation? The root cause of people asking this question again and again is the first requirement for CFA a graduation. In India graduation is considered as a basic qualification today so when it is said that CFA is a graduation level designation people start thinking it as a pure academic based course to be completed along with an MBA. In India we have a mindset where a person is suppose to finish all his education before start working, but most important requirement of CFA is the work experience. It requires related field experience of 48 months before being eligible for the status.
              SO what is the right time to start for CFA? I think right time is just after getting a experience of 1-1.5 years after masters. It gives right perspective of goals and reality of industry has sunk in. This work also opens them the exact expectation to be made from CFA. CFA is not a magic wand which will open all doors for the charter holder, it boils down to the skills of charter holder how he connects and makes contact to move forward in the career.
                  Said this there are candidates whom I know started this course after their 30s. and complete it in5-8 years. so it is willpower that helps to complete this exam. There are people who tried to start just after 1-2 years of experience and couldn't complete due to marriage and family commitments. So if one wants to try for this designation they need to sacrifice a large part of their leisure time. As someone wrote in a post 350 hours of study per year constitute around 4% total time in the year. SO if we consider 30% time for sleeping and 40% in working it constitute around 30% of the leisure time of the year. One has to forget all weekend activities for at least 4 months, no parties, no outstation trips, no movie nothing. This sacrifice becomes too much for some candidates and they leave it in between.

I CRACKED IT FINALLY- Passed CFA level 3

Today sacrifice of my family and freinds bear fruits annd I passed last level of CFA today. Finally became eligible to receive Charter

HOW TO PURSUE CFA CHARTER FROM INDIA

CFA or Charter financial analyst is a USA based designation recognised worldwide for investment analysis domain. Since USA has the more than 50% of the world equity market CFA obviously is more revered in US market than anywhere else. In India the CFA was entangled in lots of legal problems when people were trying to appear for the exams. I have known people who appeared for the test in 90's when there were no course study only guideline curriculum.
               the days have gone now a days CFA provides the course study material included in the exam fees. It gives two options of hard printed material or soft copy downloaded from Vital source. Soft copy is cheaper by $20 but its tedious to read and use as its not many book-reader friendly. Once can print only 170 pages at a time and not allowed to zoom in zoom out either. The basic search does not work properly with very basic kind of notes can be jotted down. I would suggest soft copy as a additional purchase who want to study material during office hours or in transit. This can also be used by returning students who already have books from last year.
                  Printed books quality of the CFA exams is one of the best, one can always keep the books as reference on the top shelf of the office, it always shows off knowledge of the person. For Indians most important thing about CFA exam is the fees. We need to pay fees in dollars and rupee is all time low against dollar. It may seem a paltry sum in US to pay $1000 fees its huge for Indian students. At least when Indian students are not getting any concession for having English as second language. they are competing with all of the world on the equal grounds ate least for fees CFA should provide concession. The good news is after CFAI got permission from AICTE for conducting exams it has already rolled out the scholarship program in India.
              The basic structure of the program consists of professors in graduate institutions having right to nominate maximum of 6 students year for CFA exam. These students get the exam fees waived off and only need to pay for material fees. Now the problem is the professor needs to be a CFA holder too which is a very rare case in India. So what these institutes in India do? They can hire CFA charter holders as board faculty which has official status. they need to pay monthly salary to these faculties, and need to teach some minimum hours a month. CFA recognises these professors as eligible for nominating the students for Scholarship.
                 Or CFAI can rope in eminent faculties holding the CA degrees in India so as to increase the base of CFA in India. Lets see what happens next in this space.

WHAT CFA CAN DO AT PERSONAL LEVEL

I have spoken lot about being CFA can do this do that, how it is useful for Indian students to reach the level of international competition and everything. But yesterday my colleague asked me what CFA study has contributed for you at personal level? How as a person do you feel different after starting the journey for getting CFA charter? and it started a thinking process in me, I could not answer him at that time but I think now after 2 days of thinking I can say yes CFA study has contributed tremendously in improving me as a person.
               It got me the confidence that academics is out of my reach if enough hard work is put in anything is achievable. I am from a science background with MBA in marketing, a typical marketing student who used to fear finance during college and after it as well. But this did not stopped me from pursuing the CFA when I started working in the sales department of a Mutual fund. 4 years ago I appeared for a debt exam module from NCFM to test whether I am able to understand the finance terminology and grasp the different world of concepts.
                 when I could pass the exam at first go it gave the confidence to start the study for CFA, I failed first level in Nepal on border. Many of my friends in marketing said why are you going to a different side after 2 years of MBA and 2 years of experience. I had no answer, I just felt its my calling. After three years I am looking back and seeing how much I have changed since start of the CFA study. I was a happy go luck 4 years back with hatred for study and discipline, now I found myself concentrating and studying at stretch for hours for CFA when in HSC exam my mother used to cry because of my bad study habits.
              So its a sea change for me from a useless happy go around person to serious and focused person. CFA study also help me in making my moral concepts clear, I can now take firm decision where moral decisions needs to be taken. I can wait in the line for an hour without trying to jump it or I can give 500 rs as fine without trying to negotiate a bribe to policeman. Its is a attitude what CFA provided me in last four years.
                   CFA study also provided me friends, just last week I was in Delhi and lived with a friend of mine who became my friend just because both of us were preparing for CFA. This is possible on because of CFA. It has such a high value on ethical behaviour that you ought trust a fellow CFA candidate.
             So next time my friends do let me what you gained personally from CFA exam preparation.

CFA HUB INDIA IN WAITING

Being emerging market with huge human capital wanting international recognition India is fast catching up with likes of Hong Kong and Singapore for CFA hub. In last few years CFA aspirants in India has increase at a exponential rate. With AICTE acceptance of not having jurisdiction over the CFA institute examinations in India, virtually there is no one to stop the CFA growth in India.
              SO how does students perceive the certification in India? It is totally opposite to the perception in US, in developed countries very small number of people reach the graduate level, most of the pupil prefer vocational courses due to high costs of education. This also ensures very high quality of graduates from colleges. Same with CFA it is considered as professional course acquired after reasonable years of related work experience.
               India had an old system where education is considered as a stage of life, student is expected to continue formal education through certain age, whatever he wants to learn needs to be completed before start of the next stage that is family stage. So every person in our society has a set goals. pupil is need to complete education till he gets a decent job and immediately after completion of education needs to marry a girl found by the parents. Once family is started formal education is full stop.
               This particular system of stages has narrowed down the vision of Indians, they try to complete as much of education possible to get a decent job. It is not something they yearn to learn or they like to do, but these courses are the rope way to getting job, a wife and family. So who are the pupil appearing for CFA exam in India? These are all fresh college graduates or first year MBA students without an iota of work experience. They can lot of time studying as that is the only thing they are expected to do. They work hard memorise things practice hours and pass the all three exams along with masters degrees.
               And this creates the problem now till the candidate is able use actual skills leaned during the exam, those start rusting. when they join a investment management job and expected to use the knowledge gained during the CFA preparation, they falter without the relevant work experience they have not learned any thing from the exams. This dilutes the brand CFA as recruiters think CFA do not have the required skills. So at least keep the brand image CFA institute needs to keep work experience criteria very strict. Or it can make experience required before appearing for 3rd level.