GST regime to enable Indian auditing firms to take on global competition

PM Modi had exhorted for creating four top Indian consultancy firms by 2022

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has the propensity to propel the Indian consultancy and auditing firms into the big league and compete with the best globally.
 
The widening of the tax base, shift from informal economy to formal, strict compliance and electronic processes, all stemming from GST, would create a more competitive environment for Indian firms.
 
“GST is a game changer. Even otherwise, there has been a paradigm shift in business processes and strategies to compete and survive in the current environment of rapid technological advancements,” Sidbi-promoted Uttar Pradesh Industrial Consultants Limited (UPICO) Managing Director Pravin Singh told Business Standard.

 

He noted owing to the evolving economic and business milieu post-GST, the Indian auditing firms stood a better chance of emerging the best.
 
On July 1, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also called upon for creating four big Indian accounting and consultancy firms to figure among the best in the world.
 
Addressing an Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) function in New Delhi, the PM had exhorted for creating four top Indian consultancy firms by 2022. Referring to 'Big 4', which is used for the four top audit firms such as PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG globally, Modi lamented there were many Indian accounting firms, yet none figured among the top global players.

 
Kanpur-based UPICO is a leading consultancy, training and manpower outsourcing organisation since 1974. It is promoted by Small Industries Bank of India (SIDBI), Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), commercial banks and UP government and utilities.
 
Meanwhile, taking leaf out of the radical tax reform in India and the consequent realignment of accounting and business processes, UPICO is spreading its wings nationally and shaping up its activities with a view to becoming one of the top Indian audit firms as wished by PM Modi.
 
UPICO is now focusing its expertise in the fields of consultancy, infrastructure and banking. “We are now project management consultants (PMC) and have tied up with premier organisations as their outsourcing partners and project associates,” Singh informed.

 
UPICO has been appointed by Bank of Baroda as a business correspondent to set up kiosks across India for Aadhaar linking. “We would open about 500 such kiosks in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh by March 2018.”
 
The company is also aiming to list on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Exchange by 2019 to raise capital and bring more professionals on board to grow even faster.
 
At the same time, the company is eyeing picking up minority stakes in other companies to diversify its portfolio.
 
“We are also developing our e-tendering platform and are already empanelled for imparting skill development training in the telecom sector, apart from entrepreneurship development programmes,” Singh said.