ICSI eyes Dubai centre by year-end

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), a professional body constituted under the Company Secretaries Act of 1980, expects to set up its first overseas chapter in Dubai by December this year.

Talking to Business Standard, NK Jain, the secretary and chief executive officer of ICSI said, “The members of ICSI have passed a resolution to establish a chapter in Dubai and the plan to open the first overseas chapter in Dubai has already been approved by the ICSI council. We expect our Dubai chapter to be operational by December this year.”

The Dubai chapter of ICSI is set to cater to the needs of over 100 members of ICSI who are settled in the Gulf region.

Apart from Dubai, ICSI is also mulling to set up its chapters in other geographies as over 800 members of the institute are settled overseas.

ICSI is planning to set up its branches in US, UK, Singapore and Malaysia but these plans are still at a preliminary stage, Jain added.

The institute is also thinking of offering its existing and the proposed new courses to its members through the video-conferencing mode.

ICSI is set to introduce a post-membership qualification course in corporate restructuring and insolvency through a tie-up with London-based Insol International, a world-wide federation of national associations for accountants and lawyers who specialise in turnaround and insolvency.

This apart, ICSI is also in the process of negotiations with the Competition Commission of India for introducing a specialised course in competition law.

The two proposed courses will be open to all qualified members of ICSI and are scheduled to be introduced from early 2009.

At present, ICSI has an overseas collaboration with the London-based Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and in the country the institutes has tie-ups with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI), National Law School of India University, Bangalore, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar), Hyderabad and also the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

With a membership strength of over 22,000, ICSI has over 70 chapters across the country and is aiming for 100 chapters in the next three years.

The institute has also targeted a pool of 50,000 professionals by 2015.