Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About Genpact hiring for Advanced Excel roles
Genpact is a professional services company that began as a unit of General Electric in India. It provides business process management, finance and accounting operations, analytics, data and AI services. In India it hires for process associates, business analysts, data analysts, data engineers and data scientists.
For Advanced Excel roles, this Genpact practice set focuses most on Pivot Tables and Data Summaries (7), Power Query and Data Cleaning (6), Logical, Text and Date Functions (5), Charts and Dashboards (4). It has 13 easy, 16 medium, 1 hard questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
Company type
IT services
Headquarters
New York, USA
Main India offices
Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, Kolkata
Genpact Advanced Excel interview process
Online assessment (aptitude + English)
Technical or domain interview
Managerial round
HR round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
Solved for GenpactStart practicing
3 QUESTIONS FREESign up to unlock the full question bank and track your progress.Unlock every question and answer, then continue practising company-wise and package-wise.
✓ 3 questions free • Unlock the rest in seconds
01
Explain the join kinds available in Power Query Merge.
Left Outer keeps all rows from the first table and matches from the second, the most common choice. Right Outer does the reverse. Full Outer keeps all rows from both. Inner keeps only matching rows. Left Anti keeps rows in the first table with no match, and Right Anti keeps rows in the second with no match. Anti joins are excellent for finding missing invoices or customers during reconciliation.
02
What is the difference between nested IF and IFS? Show an example.
Nested IF places one IF inside another, which becomes hard to read after three levels. IFS (Excel 2019 and later) tests conditions in order and returns the value for the first true one:
=IFS(B2>=90,"A",B2>=75,"B",B2>=60,"C",TRUE,"Fail")
The final TRUE acts as the else part. For many bands, a lookup table with XLOOKUP approximate match is easier to maintain than either.
03
Your manager wants each product's share of sales within its region, not of the grand total. How do you show it?
Put Region and then Product in Rows, and add Sales to Values twice. For the second copy, open Value Field Settings > Show Values As > % of Parent Row Total. Each product then shows its share of its own region, and each region totals 100 percent. Using % of Grand Total instead would show share of the whole company, which answers a different question.
04
What is a pivot table and when should you use one?
A pivot table summarises large tabular data by dragging fields into rows, columns, values and filters, without writing formulas. Use it when you need totals, counts or averages broken down by categories such as region, product and month, and when the breakdown changes often. It works best on clean data with one header row, no blank rows and one record per row, ideally stored in an Excel Table.
05
You added new rows of data but the pivot does not show them. Why, and how do you prevent it?
The pivot's source is probably a fixed range like A1:H500 and the new rows are below it, or the pivot has not been refreshed. Fix it with PivotTable Analyze > Change Data Source, then Refresh. To prevent it, convert the source to an Excel Table so the range expands automatically, use Data > Refresh All, and enable Refresh data when opening the file in PivotTable Options.
Pie charts become unreadable with more than five or six slices, because people are poor at comparing angles. They cannot show change over time, and 3D or exploded pies distort sizes. Slices should add up to a meaningful whole; percentages from different bases should never be in one pie. A sorted bar chart almost always communicates the same information more clearly.
07
What is a combo chart with a secondary axis and when is it useful?
A combo chart shows two series with different chart types, for example monthly sales as columns and margin percentage as a line. The percentage would be invisible on the same scale as crores of sales, so it is plotted on a secondary vertical axis on the right. Label both axes clearly, because readers can misread which series belongs to which scale.
08
SUM returns 0 on a column of numbers exported from software. How do you fix it?
The numbers are most likely stored as text, often with leading apostrophes, trailing spaces or non-breaking spaces (CHAR(160)). Check with =ISTEXT(A2) or LEN. Quick fixes are Data > Text to Columns > Finish, the green error triangle > Convert to Number, or Paste Special > Multiply by 1. For stubborn cases use =VALUE(TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160),""))) or set the column type to Decimal in Power Query.
09
Your data has months as columns (Apr, May, Jun...). How do you convert it into a proper table format?
Load the data into Power Query, select the identifying columns such as Branch and Product, then right-click and choose Unpivot Other Columns. The month headers become an Attribute column and the numbers become a Value column; rename them to Month and Sales. Using Unpivot Other Columns rather than Unpivot Columns means new months added later are included automatically on refresh.
10
What is the difference between Summarize Values By and Show Values As?
Summarize Values By chooses the calculation, such as Sum, Count, Average, Max or Min. Show Values As changes how that result is presented, for example % of Grand Total, % of Column Total, % of Parent Row Total, Running Total In, Difference From or Rank Largest to Smallest. Adding the same field twice, once as Sum and once as % of Grand Total, shows the amount and the share side by side.
11
Finance wants the sales pivot by quarter of the Indian financial year, starting in April. Date grouping only gives calendar quarters. How do you solve it?
Pivot date grouping uses calendar quarters, so add a helper column in the source data. For example, fiscal quarter ="Q"&ROUNDUP((MOD(MONTH(A2)-4,12)+1)/3,0) and a fiscal year column. Use them as row fields instead of grouped dates. In Power Query or a Data Model, put these columns in a proper Date table so every report uses the same April to March logic.
12
You need serial numbers in a list that stay continuous after rows are filtered or deleted. How do you do it?
Plain typed numbers or =ROW()-1 break when rows are hidden by a filter. Use SUBTOTAL, which ignores filtered-out rows:
=SUBTOTAL(103, $B$2:B2)
Function 103 is COUNTA that skips hidden rows, and the expanding range counts non-blank cells up to the current row. Now the numbering restarts from 1 for whatever is visible, which is useful in printed or shared filtered views.
DIVIDE handles division by zero safely and returns blank, or a value you choose, instead of an error:
Margin % := DIVIDE([Total Profit],[Total Sales])
Margin % := DIVIDE([Total Profit],[Total Sales],0)
Blank results are hidden in pivots, which keeps reports clean when a product has no sales in a month. Use the / operator only when the denominator can never be zero, because it is slightly faster.
14
A dashboard with 20 pivots and 6 slicers takes several seconds to react on every click. How do you speed it up?
Make sure all pivots share one cache or the Data Model, so a slicer click filters one source. Reduce slicer cross-filtering by unticking Visually indicate items with no data, remove slicers that are rarely used, and replace pivots that show the same data with GETPIVOTDATA from one pivot. Remove volatile formulas, limit conditional formatting, and move large data to the Data Model with measures.
In Microsoft 365:
=COUNTA(UNIQUE(A2:A500))
=ROWS(UNIQUE(FILTER(A2:A500,A2:A500<>""))) ignores blanks
In older versions:
=SUMPRODUCT((A2:A500<>"")/COUNTIF(A2:A500,A2:A500&""))
The older formula slows down on large ranges, so for big data use a pivot table with Distinct Count via the Data Model.
16
Build a live leaderboard of the top 5 sales reps by total sales using dynamic array functions.
Get unique reps, total their sales, sort descending and take the top five:
=LET(r,UNIQUE(Sales[Rep]),
t,SUMIFS(Sales[Amount],Sales[Rep],r),
TAKE(SORTBY(HSTACK(r,t),t,-1),5))
HSTACK puts names and totals side by side, SORTBY orders by totals, and TAKE keeps five rows. Without TAKE, use INDEX(...,SEQUENCE(5),{1,2}).
17
How do you use approximate match to apply discount or tax slabs?
Create a slab table with the lower limit of each band in ascending order and the rate next to it. Approximate match returns the row for the largest limit not greater than the value:
=VLOOKUP(B2,Slabs!$A$2:$B$6,2,TRUE)
=XLOOKUP(B2,Slabs[From],Slabs[Rate],,-1)
If B2 is 7.5 lakh and the bands start at 0, 3, 7 and 10 lakh, the 7 lakh row is returned. Unsorted data gives wrong results silently.
18
Commission is 2% up to 1 lakh, 5% up to 5 lakh and 8% above 5 lakh, applied as a flat rate on total sales. Write the formula.
With IFS:
=B2*IFS(B2>500000,8%,B2>100000,5%,TRUE,2%)
A cleaner and more maintainable option is a slab table (Lower: 0, 100001, 500001; Rate: 2%, 5%, 8%) with approximate match:
=B2*XLOOKUP(B2,Slab[Lower],Slab[Rate],,-1)
The -1 match mode returns the next smaller value, so changing rates only means editing the table.
19
Extract the first and last name from a full name like Rahul Kumar Sharma.
Classic formulas:
First: =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1)
Last: =TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",REPT(" ",100)),100))
In Microsoft 365 it is simpler:
First: =TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")
Last: =TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1)
The -1 tells TEXTAFTER to use the last space, which handles middle names. Run TRIM on the source first to remove double spaces.
20
How do you combine all files in a folder using Power Query?
Place files with the same structure in one folder. Go to Data > Get Data > From File > From Folder, select the folder and click Combine & Transform. Choose the sheet or table from the sample file; Power Query creates a helper function and appends all files, adding a Source.Name column with the file name. Apply cleaning steps once, Close & Load, and later just drop new files in and Refresh.
21
What are Applied Steps and the M language in Power Query?
Each transformation you click, like removing columns or changing types, is saved as a step in the Applied Steps pane, and the steps run in order on every refresh. Behind them is M, a functional formula language visible in the Advanced Editor. You can rename steps, delete or reorder them, and edit M directly for logic the interface does not provide, such as custom functions or dynamic column lists.
22
How do you stop a pivot from losing formatting and column widths on refresh?
Open PivotTable Options > Layout & Format, untick Autofit column widths on update and tick Preserve cell formatting on update. Set number formats through Value Field Settings > Number Format rather than formatting cells directly, because field-level formats survive refresh and layout changes. For a consistent look across reports, create a custom PivotTable Style and apply it to every pivot.
23
What are parameters in Power Query and when do you use them?
A parameter is a named value, created in Manage Parameters, that queries can reference instead of a hard-coded value. A common use is a FolderPath parameter so the same workbook works when moved to another computer or shared drive. Parameters can also hold a cut-off date or a region filter. Changing one value updates every query that uses it, which makes files easier to hand over.
24
How do you get a distinct count, such as unique customers, in a pivot table?
A normal pivot only offers Count, which counts every row. When inserting the pivot, tick Add this data to the Data Model. Then in Value Field Settings choose Distinct Count, which counts unique customer IDs per region or month. Alternatively, create a DAX measure =DISTINCTCOUNT(Sales[CustomerID]) in Power Pivot, which can be reused across pivots.
A waterfall chart shows how a starting value moves to an ending value through a series of positive and negative steps. It is common in finance for profit bridges, such as last year's profit, plus volume growth, minus price discount, minus higher costs, giving this year's profit. Excel 2016 and later include it under Insert > Waterfall; set the first and last bars as totals so they start from zero.
26
What checks do you run when cleaning a new dataset?
Check row counts against the source, then look for duplicate keys, blanks in mandatory fields, inconsistent text such as Delhi and New Delhi, extra spaces and mixed case, dates stored as text or in the wrong locale, negative or extreme numbers that look like typos, and codes losing leading zeros. Power Query's Column Quality and Column Profile views show errors, empties and distinct counts for each column quickly.
27
What is Data Validation and how do you create a dropdown list?
Data Validation restricts what users can type in a cell, which prevents bad input in forms and trackers. For a dropdown, select the cells, go to Data > Data Validation, choose Allow: List and set Source to a range such as =$K$2:$K$10 or a typed list like Open,Closed,On Hold. Pointing the source at a Table column keeps the list updated automatically when new options are added.
VLOOKUP can only look to the right of the key column, so it cannot return a value from a column on the left. The column index is a hard-coded number that breaks when columns are inserted. It returns only the first match, defaults to approximate match if the last argument is forgotten, and can be slow on big ranges. XLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH solve all of these problems.
29
Why does a date show as a number like 46023 when joined with text, and how do you fix it?
Excel stores dates as serial numbers, so joining with & uses the raw number instead of the formatted view. Wrap the date in TEXT with a format code:
="Report date: "&TEXT(A2,"dd-mmm-yyyy")
="Sales: Rs "&TEXT(B2,"#,##0")
TEXT returns text, so use it only for labels and titles, never for values that need further calculation.
Recorded macros use lines like Range("A1").Select followed by Selection.Copy, which are slow, flicker the screen and break if the user clicks another sheet while the macro runs. Refer to objects directly instead: Worksheets("Data").Range("A1:D100").Copy Worksheets("Report").Range("A1"). Fully qualifying the workbook and worksheet, often with a With block, makes the code faster and predictable.
Tips to crack the Genpact Advanced Excel interview
Learn process improvement basics like Lean and Six Sigma, which have long been part of Genpact's operating style.
Revise Excel, SQL and basic statistics for analytics roles, with examples of reporting or automation you built.
Read about Genpact's origins at GE and its finance and accounting outsourcing business for company questions.
Keep a one-minute story ready for every project on your CV: problem, your part, tools, result.
Practise the hard questions on this page aloud; Genpact interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the Genpact Advanced Excel interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online assessment (aptitude + English); Technical or domain interview; Managerial round; HR round. The exact rounds change with the role, team, location and your experience, so confirm the process with the recruiter.
Which topics should I prepare for the Genpact Advanced Excel interview?
This practice set leans on Pivot Tables and Data Summaries (7), Power Query and Data Cleaning (6), Logical, Text and Date Functions (5), Charts and Dashboards (4). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most Genpact interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at Genpact?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in it services interviews like Genpact's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does Genpact hire Advanced Excel professionals in India?
Genpact has large teams in Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, Kolkata. Openings and locations change often, so check the Genpact careers page and filter by city and experience.