Panel formed to chart roadmap for Big Four-like company in India

A committee headed by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) Secretary Dipti Gaur Mukherjee will examine the way forward and recommend policy interventions required to establish a domestic advisory and audit firm on par with the global Big Four, according to top government sources.

 

A first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss this issue was held on Friday by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Chaired by Shaktikanta Das, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, the meeting was attended by senior government officials, including Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava, and the MCA Secretary.

 

Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, also presented a road map to senior officials for creating an Indian firm of such calibre.

 

Prior to the meeting, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had shared its inputs on the matter with MCA officials, sources said.

 

A major portion of the business for the Big Four firms — Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG — comes from various government ministries and departments. Reducing reliance on these firms and instead promoting a home-grown firm that can take on this mantle has been on the government’s agenda. Firms such as Grant Thornton Bharat and BDO India are names that are grouped in Big Six advisory and audit firms.

 

In June last year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the ICAI should take it as a challenge to establish an Indian Big Four firm and seek global clients.

 

“Why is it that in spite of the large number of high quality CAs in India, respected all over the world, our CAs become leaders, partners in Big Four firms? But you’d rather become a partner in a big four but not form a big four in India,” she had said.

 

Industry experts cite several regulatory hurdles that hinder the setting up of an Indian Big Four firm. The current provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act do not allow revenue or profit sharing with non-CAs, which experts say limits Indian firms’ ability to access foreign markets or raise capital. In contrast, global firms are able to fund their members both directly and indirectly.

 

The committee set up by the PMO is expected to look into these regulatory barriers that prevent Indian accounting and audit firms from expanding globally.