Ernst &Young India has ruled out any impact on the organisation following the exit of its three high profile partners, Mukesh Butani, head of tax practice, Sanjay Mehta, head of telecom, and Lalit Ahluwalia, an expert on assurance. All the three had joined E&Y when Arthur Andersen was merged into it. | |
| A senior functionary of the professional services firm said. "The practices are built on very strong teams." According to the functionary, there are 56 partners at Ernst & Young and their departure would not make much difference. |
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| "There are over 20 partners in tax alone," he added. E&Y also denied reports that their exit had thrown the organisation into a turmoil. |
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| "There is no truth in the reports that K N Memani (the former head of the professional services firm) has called an emergency meeting. He hasn't stepped into the office after retiring on April 1," he said. |
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| Meanwhile, the audit and accounts industry was abuzz with the talk that Butani, Ahluwalia and Mehta were all set to join hands with Bobby Parikh, former head of Arthur Andersen who had quit E&Y last year. |
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| Industry sources said the four could together form a new consultancy outfit with an affiliated audit practice. |
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| A tie-up with a foreign consultancy for such a business smodel too got talked about. Parikh could not be contacted, while Mukesh Butani refused to comment on the developments. |
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| Some senior Ernst & Young officials insisted that there was a very slim chance of the trio teaming up with Parikh. |
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| "We don't know if Parikh is doing anything. There is a probability of less than 25 per cent that all of them will get together," they said. |
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