EY GDS Interview Process 2026: Rounds & Questions

Quick answer: candidates usually describe three or four EY GDS stages. Freshers report a written or online assessment, a group discussion in some campus drives, a technical interview for the role, and an HR round, sometimes followed by a discussion with a manager or partner. Experienced candidates report an HR screen, one or two technical interviews and a managerial round. The count changes with the service line and the city, so follow the invitation from EY.

EY GDS (Global Delivery Services) is EY's delivery network, with offices in Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Chennai and Pune. It hires across EY service lines such as Assurance, Consulting and Tax. Roles are listed on the official EY careers site and the EY GDS page (both opened on 10 November 2026). The round descriptions below come from candidate reports and preparation guides, not from EY.

EY GDS interview rounds for freshers

Assessment: campus guides describe an online or written test with aptitude, reasoning and English, plus role-specific questions for technology tracks. Off-campus roles are posted on the careers portal through the year, with no single annual window.

Group discussion: reported in some campus drives, not all. Topics are usually business or current affairs.

Technical interview: this depends on the track. Technology consulting candidates report a programming language, OOP, SQL and their projects. Assurance and tax candidates report accounting and audit basics. Data and analytics candidates report SQL, Excel and a small case.

HR and manager rounds: HR checks fit, motivation and which service line you want and why. Some candidates report a final discussion with a manager, senior manager or partner that mixes situational questions with your long-term plans.

EY GDS interview process for experienced candidates

Lateral candidates commonly report an initial HR screen, a technical interview with the team, and a managerial discussion. Senior roles can add a second technical round or a conversation with a partner.

Prepare for depth on your current work. A data engineer should expect pipelines, SQL performance and one cloud platform. An SAP or risk consultant should expect module or framework specifics and a client situation. An audit senior should expect standards, sampling and how they handled a difficult client. Bring two examples with a measurable result.

Technical and domain questions with model answers

Q: UNION or UNION ALL? A: Both stack the results of two queries with the same columns. UNION removes duplicate rows, which costs a sort or hash. UNION ALL keeps every row and is faster. Use UNION ALL when you know the sets do not overlap or you want the duplicates.

Q: How do you find employees who earn more than their manager? A: Join the table to itself: SELECT e.name FROM employees e JOIN employees m ON e.manager_id = m.id WHERE e.salary > m.salary. Say that this is a self join and that e and m are two aliases of one table.

Q: How would you handle missing values in a dataset? A: First find out why they are missing. Then choose: drop the rows if they are few and random, fill numbers with the median or a group median, fill categories with the most common value or an "unknown" label, and keep a flag column so the model or reader knows the value was filled.

Q: VLOOKUP or INDEX-MATCH? A: VLOOKUP searches the first column of a range and returns a value from a column to its right, so it breaks when columns move. INDEX-MATCH can look left or right and survives inserted columns. In newer Excel, XLOOKUP does both in one function.

Q: Accrual or cash accounting? A: Cash accounting records income and expenses when money moves. Accrual accounting records them when they are earned or incurred, whatever the payment date. Financial statements under accounting standards use accrual, which is why receivables and payables exist.

Q: What is materiality in an audit? A: It is the size of a misstatement that could change a reader's decision. Auditors set a threshold, often as a percentage of profit or revenue, plan their testing around it, and judge errors by both amount and nature.

Case, guesstimate and situational questions

Q: Estimate how many cups of tea are sold in Bengaluru in a day. A: Say your structure aloud before the numbers. Start with the population, take the share who drink tea outside home, multiply by cups per person per day, and adjust for weekdays. State each assumption and round boldly. Interviewers mark the structure and your arithmetic, not the final figure.

Q: A client sends data late and your deadline is tomorrow. What do you do? A: "I tell my manager the same day with what is missing and what it delays. I finish every part that does not need the data, send the client a short list of exactly what I need and by when, and agree a revised time if it still does not arrive." Show that you raise risk early.

Q: You find an error in work you already submitted. A: "I tell my senior immediately, explain the cause and the fix, and correct it before the client relies on it." Integrity questions like this are common at audit and consulting firms.

HR questions with model answers

Q: Why EY? A: Give a true, specific reason: the service line you applied to, the kind of clients it serves, or the training and certifications it supports. Connect it to one thing you have already done, such as a finance internship or a data project.

Q: What do you know about EY GDS? A: "It is EY's global delivery network. Teams in India work with EY member firms across countries on assurance, consulting and tax work." Then name the service line you want and why.

Q: Which service line do you prefer, and why? A: Pick one and explain with evidence. "Consulting, because I enjoy data work: I built a sales dashboard in Power BI during my internship." Saying "any" sounds unprepared.

For salary questions, read expected CTC answers and check take-home with the CTC to in-hand calculator.

A 7-day preparation plan

Day 1: aptitude, reasoning and English sets under time.
Day 2: the core of your track, SQL and a language for technology roles or accounting standards for assurance and tax.
Day 3: Excel lookups, pivot tables and one small dataset analysed end to end.
Day 4: three guesstimates and one case, spoken aloud.
Day 5: your project or internship story with numbers.
Day 6: HR answers, including why EY and your service line.
Day 7: a full mock interview with the camera on.

Other company guides: Mphasis, Virtusa, Genpact, LTIMindtree, Hexaware, IBM.

How CrackInterviewAI helps you practise

CrackInterviewAI is a Windows 10/11 app that turns a spoken, typed or screenshot question into a short answer outline using your resume, role and job description. New accounts get 30 free minutes; after that, India base prices start at Rs 99 for 30 minutes and Rs 349 for 3 hours, prepaid with no auto-renewal. Use it to rehearse EY GDS questions aloud, then give every answer in your own words. Do not use live help in a proctored assessment or in any round whose rules prohibit it.

Panels in India often mix Hindi and English. The app transcribes English, Hindi and Hinglish questions and replies in clear English, so you can rehearse the way interviewers actually speak. Download the Windows app or see the plans.

Rehearse your EY GDS interview out loud

Practise technical, project and HR answers with your own resume as context. New accounts get 30 free minutes on Windows.

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Frequently asked questions

How many rounds are there in the EY GDS interview?

Candidates usually report three or four: an assessment, a group discussion in some campus drives, a technical interview and an HR round, sometimes with a manager or partner discussion. Experienced hires report an HR screen, one or two technical rounds and a managerial round.

What is asked in the EY GDS technical interview?

It depends on the track. Technology consulting covers a programming language, OOP, SQL and projects; assurance and tax cover accounting and audit basics; analytics covers SQL, Excel and a small case.

Is there a group discussion in EY GDS hiring?

Some campus drives include one and others do not, according to preparation guides and candidate reports.

When does EY GDS hire freshers off campus?

Preparation guides say EY posts off-campus roles on its careers portal through the year. Check the official careers site and apply only there or through your placement cell.

Is this guide from EY?

No. CrackInterviewAI is not affiliated with EY. This is an independent preparation guide; confirm official details on the EY careers site and in your invitation.

Can I practise EY GDS interview answers with AI?

Yes. CrackInterviewAI gives new accounts 30 free minutes on Windows to rehearse spoken or typed questions with your resume as context. Use it to practise, and follow the rules of the real assessment.

Keep exploring

Return to the CrackInterviewAI homepage to download the Windows app, or browse all guides on the interview prep blog.

EY GDS Interview Process (2026): Rounds, Technical, Case and HR Questions for Freshers and Experienced