NEW DELHI: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is in the process of making a proposal on the basis of reciprocal agreement, allowing chartered accountants from the UK and Canada to practice in India.
The newly-appointed ICAI President Ranjit Kumar Agarwal during a press conference said this initiative is part of India’s Free Trade Agreement negotiations with these countries. A similar arrangement with Australia is also being considered, he further informed. He stated that if enacted, overseas CAs will need to register with ICAI for regulation.
“It will be on a reciprocal basis and not on a standalone basis. If they agree, it will be a win-win situation for both the countries... In the UK, there is an ageing population and most of the work has shifted from the UK to India,” Agarwal said. He added that there is huge demand for Indian accounting professionals abroad and it will be in the interest of Indian members as they can also go to UK and Canada to offer their services.
Meanwhile, ICAI has also formed a committee to look at artificial intelligence usage in the field of accounting and financial services.
It will be coming out with a roadmap in the next two months. The President also said that there would be a need of nearly 30 lakh CAs in the next 20-25 years. Currently, the institute has more than 4 lakh members and 8.5 lakh students. Also, about 42,000 CAs from India are working overseas.
In addition, Agarwal also said that the ICAI will provide suggestions to the centre as to how to increase tax to GDP ratio as well as on green finance.