How to Prepare for a Group Discussion (with Current GD Topics)

Start with the marking, then how to get into a discussion and how to close one, and the habits that cost you marks. After that comes a list of topics for the 2026-27 placement season, with points on both sides. We refresh that list at the start of each placement season, so check back before your drives.

What a group discussion is and why companies use it

A group discussion (GD) is a round where eight to twelve candidates sit together and discuss a topic for 10 to 20 minutes while one or two assessors watch. There's usually no moderator. You get the topic, a minute or two to think, and then someone has to start.

For a company, a GD shows in fifteen minutes what an interview takes an hour to find out, which is how you behave in a group. Can you make a point clearly and listen to others? Do you get flustered when someone disagrees? Many campus recruiters, including some banks, consulting firms and FMCG companies hiring management trainees, use a GD as a filter between the written test and the interviews. IT services companies use them less often, but you'll still meet them.

How a GD is assessed

Nobody is counting how many times you spoke. Assessors usually score a handful of things, and every one of them matters more than raw airtime.

Content: Do your points make sense, and are they relevant to the topic? One sharp, specific point beats four general ones. "Quick commerce needs dark stores in every neighbourhood, which raises costs" is content. "Technology is changing everything" is not.

Communication: Can people follow you? Short sentences in plain language, said in a steady voice, score well. Fancy vocabulary and a polished accent don't.

Listening: Do you respond to what others said, or just wait for your turn? Building on someone's point by name ("Rohan said cost is the issue, but I think the bigger problem is...") shows you were listening.

Initiative: Did you open the discussion, steer it back when it drifted, or bring in an angle nobody had covered? You don't need all of these. One clear moment of steering is enough.

Conduct: Assessors watch how you treat others. Interrupting, mocking or talking over a quieter member counts against you, however good your points are.

Underneath all five sits your body language. Sit upright, look at the group rather than the assessor, and keep your hands still. Nobody expects you to perform confidence; just don't look as if you'd rather be elsewhere.

How to enter a group discussion

Most students find the first sentence the hardest. In a group of ten, the gaps are short.

Opening the GD yourself? Define the topic in a sentence and give the discussion one direction. For example, on "Should internships be mandatory for every degree?": "I'd like to start by separating two questions: whether internships help students, and whether making them compulsory is practical for every college. I think the first is clearly yes, and the second is where we should spend our time." Now the group has a structure, and the assessors remember who gave it.

Coming in mid-discussion is different. Wait for someone to finish a sentence, then use a short bridge:

• "Adding to what Sneha said..."
• "I'd look at this from the employer's side..."
• "Can I bring in one point we haven't covered?"

Make your point in two or three sentences and stop. A short entry is easier to get in and harder to interrupt.

Still silent after four or five minutes? Speak next, even if the point is simple. Assessors can't score someone they never heard. Say you're a BBA student in Indore: one clear, calm point in the first five minutes will usually score higher than waiting for the perfect argument and never finding a gap.

How to conclude a GD well

Some assessors ask one person to summarise the discussion, and others just call time. When it's you summing up, give a fair account of the discussion rather than restating your own view.

Take 30 to 45 seconds. Name the main points from both sides, say where the group agreed, and say what stayed open. Something like: "We agreed that quick commerce suits dense cities and gives flexible work to many delivery partners. We didn't settle whether the pressure on kirana stores and the working conditions of riders can be fixed by regulation or need a different model."

Leave new points out of the summary, and don't claim a verdict the group never reached.

Behaviour that loses marks in a GD

These habits lose marks almost every time.

The most common is shouting, or raising your voice to win the floor. It looks like you've lost control, and the assessor stops listening to what you're saying.

Interrupting people mid-sentence, again and again. One interruption in a heated moment happens; a pattern of them looks rude.

Dominating. Speaking for two minutes straight, or after every other person, tells the assessor you don't value the group. Aim for three to five contributions in a 15-minute GD.

Staying silent, which hurts you just as badly.

Making up statistics. If you quote a percentage you half-remember from a reel, someone in the group may know the real figure and correct you in front of the assessor. Say "a large share" instead, or skip the number.

Personal remarks. "That's a very naive point" ends your chances. Argue with what someone said, and leave them out of it.

Going off topic to talk about what you know. If the topic is electric vehicles and you spend a minute on your final-year project, the assessor notices.

Group discussion topics for the 2026-27 placement season

All of these are in the news and turning up in placement GDs this season, and each one comes with points for and against. Treat them as starting material for practice and add your own reading on top. We'll update the list before the next placement season.

Should AI tools be allowed in college assignments and exams?

For: Students will use these tools at work, so colleges should teach them to use them well. A ban is hard to enforce and only pushes use underground, while teachers can redesign tasks around judgement and explanation rather than recall.

Against: Students may skip the learning the assignment was meant to build. Fair assessment becomes harder when some students use the tools heavily and others don't. Colleges with fewer resources may struggle to redesign exams quickly.

Is 10-minute delivery (quick commerce) good for India?

For: Busy households find it convenient, it creates a large number of flexible jobs, and it pushes cities towards better supply chains and cold storage.

Against: Local kirana stores may lose business. Delivery riders face time pressure and road risk. Dark stores and fast delivery may not be profitable outside big cities.

Should gig workers get the same social security as salaried employees?

For: Delivery partners and ride-hailing drivers often work full-time hours without health cover or a pension. Basic protection is fair, and some state governments have moved in this direction.

Against: Higher costs could raise prices or reduce the number of gigs available. Many workers value flexibility and may not want fixed rules. Defining who counts as a gig worker is complicated.

Should companies require employees to work from the office five days a week?

For: Freshers learn faster sitting next to experienced colleagues, and teams communicate quicker in person. Some work, such as hardware or client-facing roles, needs you there.

Against: Long commutes in cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai eat hours each day. Remote and hybrid work widen hiring to smaller towns and to people with caregiving duties. Productivity in many roles didn't fall when people worked from home.

Should internships be compulsory in every undergraduate degree?

For: Students see what work involves and find out early whether a field suits them. Employers get graduates who need less training.

Against: Colleges in smaller towns may not have enough companies nearby. Unpaid internships can be unfair to students who need to earn. A compulsory internship can turn into a certificate-only formality.

Is a degree still necessary for a career in tech?

For: A degree gives fundamentals, a network and placement access. Many employers still use it as a first filter, and some visa rules for working abroad need one.

Against: Skills and a portfolio of work are easier to show than ever. Some companies have dropped degree requirements for certain roles. Years and fees spent on a degree are a real cost for some families.

Should social media platforms have a minimum age, strictly enforced?

For: Concerns about screen time, sleep and mental health in young teenagers are growing. Some countries have passed laws restricting accounts for younger users.

Against: Age checks may mean handing over ID documents to platforms, which raises privacy concerns. Teenagers may move to less safe corners of the internet. Parents and schools may be better placed than law to manage use.

Electric vehicles: is India ready for a large-scale switch?

For: EVs cut city air pollution and fuel imports, and they cost less to run. Two- and three-wheelers have already moved fast in many cities.

Against: Charging points are thin outside metros. Much electricity still comes from coal, so the emission benefit is smaller than it looks. Battery raw materials and recycling raise their own problems.

Abstract topics: "Zero" and "Red"

Some companies hand you a single word to see how you think. There's no for or against here, so treat the word as a starting point and take it somewhere concrete. "Zero" could lead to the invention of zero in India, zero-waste living, a zero-balance bank account or a zero-tolerance policy. Bring the group to one or two angles they can discuss properly instead of listing twenty associations.

Group discussion tips for practising

Get six to eight classmates together twice a week for the month before drives. Each time, one person observes and gives feedback on the marking areas above, and a different person takes that seat next time.

Pick topics from the list above, then from the newspaper. Give everyone two minutes to think, discuss for 15, and spend five on feedback. If everyone agrees, record the audio on a phone. You'll learn more from hearing yourself once than from a page of advice.

Keep working on the written test as well, because most companies use it to decide who reaches the GD. Practise it timed on Interview Prep alongside your GD prep, not after it.

Read for 15 minutes a day. Take one news story each morning, read it properly and ask yourself "what's the other side of this?" A BSc Economics student in Kolkata who does that every morning builds GD material without noticing, and so will you.

Most drives go straight to interviews after the GD. Our guides on what to do in the first 10 minutes of an interview and common HR interview questions for freshers cover what comes next.

Your next step

Find five classmates this week, pick one topic from the list above, and run a 15-minute GD with one observer. The observer notes who spoke, how often, and whether anyone summarised. A week later, run the same topic again and compare the two.

For the written round that comes before the GD, practise with timed, scored tests in Interview Prep.