FM Nirmala Sitharaman asks ICAI to set up 'Big 4'- like Indian firm

New Delhi, May 21, 2024 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday exhorted the Bihar chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to set up an Indian auditing firm that will grow to feature among the Big Four and seek global clients.

Interacting with the ICAI in Patna, Sitharaman sought a commitment from them to start work on the same as part of their 100-day agenda for Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Urging Bihar to show its leadership skills, the finance minister said that one of the Big Four CA partnerships should come as the outcome of the Bihari mind. “You should establish a CA firm, strong enough to be reckoned as a top four company… What stops us from doing it?”

Currently, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC are known globally as the Big Four in the world of accounting.

“Why is it that in spite of the large number of high quality CAs in India — respected all over the world — our CAs become (only) leaders, and partners in Big Four firms. (Why) would you rather become a partner in a Big Four but not form a Big Four in India,” Sitharaman asked.

She also urged the state to bring policy changes to draw in the industry, adding that today’s industries were more open-minded about the location of their factories.

Giving the example of a semiconductor unit in Assam, the finance minister said it happened not because of an existing ecosystem, but sheer proactiveness of the state government.

"Industries will have to be brought here. Growth will come from east India. The Central government wants eastern states — Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha — to become engines of growth for the whole country as part of the goal to make India a developed country by 2047,” she said.

[The Business Standard]