“Networking guidelines will help CA firms gain scale”: ICAI President Charanjot Singh Nanda
Print Edition: Jul 6, 2025
Charanjot Singh Nanda, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, on investigations into Gensol, IndusInd Bank and current priorities.
Charanjot Singh Nanda, President of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, underlines three key priorities for his tenure: highlighting the role of chartered accountants (CAs) in nation building, bringing best accounting practices in sectors like ESG, technology and sustainability, and promoting work life-balance for CAs. In an interview with Business Today, Nanda discusses some pressing matters that the ICAI is working on. Edited excerpts:
There seems to be a shortage of CAs, and this is seen to become graver as the economy grows. What is the ICAI doing to tackle this?
The shortage of CAs has been an ongoing issue. Demand has increased over the years due to various reasons, including economic expansion, the growth of start-ups, and complex regulatory and compliance requirements. CAs are complete business solution providers and take care of the growing number of regulatory and compliance requirements. There are several new avenues as well, such as forensic accounting, valuations, sustainability reporting, entrepreneurship, and risk management apart from the conventional domains of financial reporting, finance and accounting. These roles require a distinct specialised area of consulting which is done by CAs. ICAI is equipping its members with every specialised skill that is required. We are also updating our CA curriculum as per industry needs. Earlier, we used to update the curriculum every 10 years, now we do it after five years. Maybe in a year or two, we will do it on an immediate basis.
How are you proceeding on the government’s plan to have a global, big Indian CA firm?
We have issued draft guidelines for networking. These guidelines are primarily meant to promote networking amongst one or more CA firms registered with ICAI with networks or entities established and registered outside India in their respective jurisdictions. This calls for capacity building. Any person practising accountancy in India will have to register with ICAI. Indian firms can also join and make large firms. There are so many firms with over 50 partners. Last year, we issued guidelines for mergers and de-mergers and now with the draft guidelines on networking, we are working on this issue.
Can you share an update on the cases around Gensol, IndusInd Bank and Byju’s that the ICAI has been investigating?
The Byju’s case is presently at the hearing stage before the Disciplinary Committee of the ICAI so we can’t divulge anything on that. We have referred the Gensol and IndusInd Bank cases to the Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB) for desktop review. There is a comprehensive three-tier process to review the general purpose financial statements of a selected enterprise. This multilevel approach involves technical reviewers, the financial reporting review group (FRRG) and then the Board. First, technical reviewers see the signed financial statements to ensure compliance with accounting standards, standards on auditing, the Companies Act, and other regulatory requirements. Then the FRRG does a comprehensive analysis and builds upon the findings of the technical reviewers. The final decision rests with the FRRB, following the submission of the reports by the technical reviewer and then the FRRG. The Gensol matter was taken up by the Board on April 23 and based on SEBI’s interim order and additional media reports, the Board decided to do a desk review of Gensol Engineering Limited and BluSmart Mobility Private Limited for FY24 as a special case. In the IndusInd Bank matter, it decided to undertake a review of the financial statements and statutory auditors reports for FY24 and FY25. If the FRRB finds any material or serious non-compliances affecting true and fair view of financial statements, it refers the case to Directorate of Discipline of the ICAI for further investigation. The reviews generally take around six months but there is no mandated date.
ICAI is also working on accounting standards for limited liability partnerships (LLPs). Can you please elaborate on that?
ICAI’s recommendation on accounting standards (AS) for LLPs have been submitted to the National Financial Reporting Authority. The proposed set of AS for LLPs has been prepared taking the AS notified under the Companies (Accounting Standard) Rules, 2021, as a base. No conceptional changes have been proposed but necessary changes have been made taking into account the perspective of LLPs. There will be no major change in the applicability of accounting standards for LLPs as the currently available exemptions and relaxations will continue under the new set of AS. The final AS for LLPs will be notified after consideration by the NFRA and Ministry of Corporate Affairs following necessary approvals and regulatory processes.
ICAI is also working with SEBI on tackling financial fraud…
Yes, we have been discussing with SEBI on this issue. SEBI is keen that ICAI give it a white paper on how to combat scams, financial frauds. We will chalk out such methodology that can be used for early warning signs such as defaults in repayments, on employee obligations. That will give us a hint that something is not well.
[Business Today]
