Birlasoft Business Analytics Interview Questions & Answers
Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About Birlasoft hiring for Business Analytics roles
Birlasoft is an Indian IT services company and part of the CK Birla Group. It focuses on enterprise solutions such as Oracle, SAP and Microsoft applications, along with cloud, data and testing services for manufacturing, life sciences and energy clients. In India it hires for software engineers, ERP consultants, test engineers and data analysts.
For Business Analytics roles, this Birlasoft practice set focuses most on Power BI and Tableau (6), Requirements and Agile (6), SQL for Business Analysis (6), Business Metrics and KPIs (4). It has 21 easy, 18 medium, 1 hard questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
Company type
IT services
Headquarters
Pune, India
Main India offices
Pune, Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai
Birlasoft Business Analytics interview process
Online assessment (aptitude + reasoning)
Technical MCQs
Technical interview
HR round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
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01
Write a UAT test case for logging in to a banking app with OTP.
Test case ID: UAT-LOGIN-03. Precondition: registered customer with a verified mobile number. Steps: 1. Open the app and enter the registered mobile number. 2. Tap Send OTP. 3. Enter the 6-digit OTP received by SMS within 3 minutes. 4. Tap Verify. Expected result: the customer lands on the account dashboard, and the login is recorded in the activity log. Related negative cases: wrong OTP shows an error, and three wrong attempts lock login for 30 minutes.
The total profit expected from a customer over the relationship, roughly average margin x purchase frequency x lifespan, compared with acquisition cost.
03
What are DAU, WAU and MAU, and what is the stickiness ratio?
DAU, WAU and MAU count unique users active in a day, week and month, where 'active' must be clearly defined, such as completing a core action. The stickiness ratio is DAU divided by MAU and shows how often monthly users return. A ratio of 0.5 means the average monthly user is active about 15 days a month. Daily-use products like messaging aim high, while a travel app naturally has low stickiness.
04
What is a data dictionary and why does a business analyst maintain one?
A data dictionary is a catalogue of data elements used in a system or report: field name, business definition, data type, length, allowed values, mandatory or optional, source system, owner and example values. A BA maintains it so business users, developers and testers use one definition, for example what counts as an active customer. It prevents mapping errors in integrations and migrations, speeds up testing and reduces disputes about why reports do not match.
The BCG matrix classifies business units or products by market growth rate and relative market share. Stars have high share in high-growth markets and need investment. Cash cows have high share in slow markets and fund the rest. Question marks have low share in fast markets and need a decision to invest or exit. Dogs have low share in slow markets and are candidates to divest. It guides portfolio resource allocation.
06
Write DAX measures for Total Sales, Sales Last Year and Year-over-Year growth percent.
// B2:B200 = price per unit, C2:C200 = units sold
=SUMPRODUCT(B2:B200, C2:C200) / SUM(C2:C200)
// a simple AVERAGE(B2:B200) would wrongly give a small order
// the same weight as a large one
08
Where do you see yourself in five years as a business analyst?
Show ambition that fits the role. For example: in five years I see myself as a senior business analyst who owns a business domain, such as payments or supply chain, leads requirement and analytics work for major initiatives and mentors juniors. To get there I am building strong SQL and Power BI skills, learning the domain deeply and taking on more stakeholder-facing work. I would like to grow that path within this organisation.
09
What is the difference between accrual accounting and cash accounting?
Under accrual accounting, revenue is recorded when it is earned and expenses when they are incurred, regardless of when cash moves. Under cash accounting, transactions are recorded only when cash is received or paid. Companies in India report under accrual-based standards (Ind AS). Example: an annual software contract billed in April is recognised as revenue month by month over 12 months under accrual, even though all the cash came in April.
A BA bridges business and technology: gathers requirements, analyses data and processes, documents BRD/FRD and makes sure the final solution actually solves the business problem.
11
Monthly subscription churn jumped from 3 percent to 5 percent. How do you investigate?
Confirm the data first: definition changes, failed-payment handling or a billing date shift. Then segment churn by plan, tenure, acquisition channel, city and device to find where it concentrates. Separate voluntary cancellations from involuntary card failures. Look at events before the jump, like a price change, app release or competitor offer, and read cancellation reasons. Recommend targeted fixes, such as payment retries or win-back offers, and track the affected cohort.
A sprint review is held at the end of the sprint with stakeholders to demonstrate completed work, gather feedback and adjust the backlog; it is about the product. A sprint retrospective is an internal team meeting afterwards to discuss what went well, what did not and what to improve in the way of working; it is about the process. The BA often helps demo stories in the review.
A short requirement written as 'As a user, I want X so that Y', backed by acceptance criteria. Good stories follow INVEST: independent, negotiable, valuable, estimable, small and testable.
15
What is the difference between correlation and causation in product analytics?
Correlation means two metrics move together; causation means one actually changes the other. Users who use the wishlist feature may retain better, but they may simply be more engaged users already. Acting on correlation alone can waste effort, such as forcing everyone into the wishlist. To establish causation, run an A/B test, or use quasi-experimental methods such as difference-in-differences when a test is not possible, and always check for confounders like user tenure or acquisition channel.
16
What is a foreign key and what is referential integrity?
A foreign key is a column in one table that refers to the primary key of another, such as orders.customer_id pointing to customers.customer_id. Referential integrity means every foreign key value must exist in the parent table, so you cannot have an order for a customer who does not exist. The database enforces it on insert, update and delete, which keeps joins reliable for reporting.
17
Write a SQL query to show cumulative revenue by month.
WITH monthly AS (
SELECT DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
SUM(amount) AS revenue
FROM orders
GROUP BY 1
)
SELECT month, revenue,
SUM(revenue) OVER (ORDER BY month) AS cumulative_revenue
FROM monthly
ORDER BY month;
-- add PARTITION BY EXTRACT(YEAR FROM month) to reset each year
18
What is the difference between Definition of Ready and Definition of Done?
Definition of Ready is a checklist a story must meet before the team pulls it into a sprint: clear description, acceptance criteria, dependencies identified, designs attached and estimated. Definition of Done is the checklist for calling work complete: coded, reviewed, tested, acceptance criteria passed, documented and deployable. The BA mostly drives readiness, while the whole team owns done. Both reduce rework and arguments at sprint end.
19
What is the difference between a task and a sub-process in BPMN?
A task is an atomic unit of work that you do not break down further in the diagram, such as Verify PAN details. A sub-process is a compound activity that contains its own flow of tasks, events and gateways, shown with a small plus sign when collapsed. Sub-processes keep high-level diagrams readable: the main map shows Credit Check as one box, and a separate detailed view explains its internal steps.
The time value of money means a rupee today is worth more than a rupee in the future, because today's rupee can be invested to earn a return and future money carries inflation and risk. Future cash is converted to present value using PV = FV / (1 + r)^n. At a 10 percent discount rate, 1,10,000 rupees received after one year is worth 1,00,000 rupees today. It is the basis of NPV, IRR, loan EMIs and valuation.
A/B testing is a controlled experiment where users are randomly split into a control group that sees the current version and a treatment group that sees a change, such as a new checkout button. You compare a pre-decided primary metric, like conversion rate, between groups. Because assignment is random, a significant difference can be attributed to the change rather than to seasonality, marketing or user mix.
22
What does expectation management mean for a business analyst?
It means making sure stakeholders know realistically what will be delivered, when, and with what limits, before they form their own assumptions. A BA confirms scope in writing, states assumptions and dependencies, shares estimates with ranges, and flags risks early. When something changes, they update stakeholders immediately with options. Most stakeholder conflict comes from surprises, not from bad news itself.
23
What is the difference between a calculated column and a measure in Power BI?
A calculated column is computed row by row at refresh time and stored in the model, so it uses memory and can be used in slicers, rows and relationships. A measure is computed at query time based on the current filters, so it is not stored and responds to slicers. Use a column for attributes such as an age band, and a measure for aggregations such as Total Sales or Margin %.
24
The scheduled refresh failed overnight and leadership reviews the dashboard at 10 am. What do you do?
Check the refresh history error first: expired credentials, gateway offline, source schema change or timeout. Fix the quick cause and trigger a manual refresh. If it cannot be fixed in time, inform the stakeholders early, state the last refreshed date clearly on the report and share the key numbers from a direct query if needed. Afterwards add refresh failure alerts and a data-as-of label so it never surprises anyone.
SUMIFS is faster and easier for sums with AND conditions on ranges. SUMPRODUCT multiplies arrays and sums the result, so it handles cases SUMIFS cannot: weighted totals like price times quantity, OR logic, conditions on calculated values such as MONTH(date)=4, or comparing two columns row by row. On very large sheets SUMPRODUCT is slower, so prefer SUMIFS or a helper column when possible.
27
Which chart would you choose for trend, part-to-whole, comparison and distribution?
For a trend over time use a line chart. For part-to-whole use a stacked bar or a 100 percent bar; a pie or donut only works with two to four slices. For comparing categories use a sorted horizontal bar chart. For distribution use a histogram or box plot. For correlation between two measures use a scatter plot. Choosing by the question being answered, not by looks, keeps dashboards readable.
28
What is the difference between ROW_NUMBER, RANK and DENSE_RANK?
All three number rows within a window ordered by a column. ROW_NUMBER gives a unique sequence 1, 2, 3 even for ties. RANK gives ties the same number and then skips, so 1, 1, 3. DENSE_RANK gives ties the same number without gaps, so 1, 1, 2. Use ROW_NUMBER to pick exactly one row per group, such as the latest order, and DENSE_RANK for 'top 3 distinct salary levels' type questions.
29
Guesstimate: how many smartphones are sold in India each year?
Use a replacement plus new-buyer approach. India has about 144 crore people; assume around 60 crore active smartphone users. If people replace phones every 4 years on average, replacements are about 15 crore a year. Add first-time buyers, say 2 to 3 percent of the remaining adult population, roughly 1.5 crore. The estimate is about 16 to 17 crore phones a year, which is close to reported industry numbers of around 15 crore.
30
Write Given-When-Then acceptance criteria for applying a discount coupon at checkout.
Given a cart of 1,200 rupees and a valid coupon SAVE10 with a minimum order of 1,000 rupees, when the user applies it, then 10 percent is deducted and the new total is shown. Given an expired coupon, when applied, then the message 'This coupon has expired' appears and the total is unchanged. Given a cart below the minimum, when applied, then the user is told how much more to add.
31
What is the difference between OLTP and OLAP systems?
// Profit Ratio (aggregate so it works at any level)
SUM([Profit]) / SUM([Sales])
// Loss Flag (row level)
IF [Profit] < 0 THEN "Loss" ELSE "Profit" END
// Put Loss Flag on Color to highlight loss-making orders
36
What are unit economics and why do investors and leaders focus on them?
Unit economics measure revenue and cost for one unit of business, such as one order, one customer or one subscription. For an order you compute average order value minus product cost, delivery, payment fees, discounts and support cost to get contribution margin. If each unit loses money, scale only increases losses. Leaders use unit economics to decide pricing, which cities or channels to grow and where to cut cost.
37
How is a product owner's role different from a business analyst's role?
The product owner owns the product vision and the backlog order, makes final priority decisions and accepts completed work on behalf of the business. The business analyst works on understanding problems in depth: eliciting and analysing requirements, modelling processes and data, writing detailed stories and acceptance criteria and supporting the team and testers. In smaller teams one person may do both, but the PO decides what, while the BA clarifies how it should work.
Dimensions are qualitative fields such as Region, Category or Customer Name; placing them on a shelf creates headers and splits the view into groups. Measures are numeric fields such as Sales or Quantity that Tableau aggregates, usually with SUM or AVG. Tableau also marks fields as discrete (blue pills, headers) or continuous (green pills, axes). A date can act as either, which changes whether you get separate bars or a continuous trend line.
39
What is a swimlane diagram and how is it different from a simple flowchart?
A simple flowchart shows the sequence of steps and decisions but not who performs them. A swimlane diagram divides the chart into horizontal or vertical lanes, one per role, team or system, and places each step in the lane of its owner. This makes handoffs visible, because every arrow crossing a lane boundary is a handoff where delays, errors and unclear ownership often occur. BPMN lanes are a standardised form of swimlanes.
40
Your monthly Excel report takes a full day of manual work. How would you automate it?
Map the steps first: which files arrive, what cleaning is done and which outputs are needed. Move the import and cleaning into Power Query so a refresh replaces copy-paste. Base calculations on Excel Tables and PivotTables that update automatically, and keep a fixed template for the output. Use a small macro or Office Script only for the remaining formatting or emailing. Add checks such as row counts and totals so errors surface quickly.
Tips to crack the Birlasoft Business Analytics interview
Learn basic ERP concepts such as procure-to-pay and order-to-cash, as many Birlasoft projects involve enterprise applications.
Revise SQL and data basics, since ERP and analytics roles both rely on strong querying skills.
Read about the CK Birla Group and Birlasoft's manufacturing and life sciences client focus.
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; Birlasoft interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the Birlasoft Business Analytics interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online assessment (aptitude + reasoning); Technical MCQs; Technical interview; 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 Birlasoft Business Analytics interview?
This practice set leans on Power BI and Tableau (6), Requirements and Agile (6), SQL for Business Analysis (6), Business Metrics and KPIs (4). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most Birlasoft interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at Birlasoft?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in it services interviews like Birlasoft's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does Birlasoft hire Business Analytics professionals in India?
Birlasoft has large teams in Pune, Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai. Openings and locations change often, so check the Birlasoft careers page and filter by city and experience.
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