New Delhi, February 12 Congress leader Vivek K Tankha demanded legal protection for chartered accountants and called for measures to break the dominance of the four multinational audit firms in India, stating that domestic CA firms need government support to compete.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the MP from Madhya Pradesh said that Deloitte, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), E&Y (Ernst & Young), and KPMG have mandates worth more than Rs 10,000 crore each, while nearly one lakh Indian CA firms have businesses that never cross Rs 10 crore.
"I am voicing the concerns of nearly five lakh chartered accountants who live and work in this country, as well as more than four lakh who live abroad. They are the gatekeepers of our businesses. They are the crisis managers of our operationalised government policies," Tankha said.
Highlighting the critical role CAs played in implementing policies like demonetisation and GST, he said: "The ministers may announce, but it is the CAs who implement them. The government makes a policy declaration, but it is the CAs who are working to implement it for the benefit of the people, because there were so many forms, so much law, and so many rules that a common person didn't even understand."
Tankha said that CAs feel their privacy and client confidentiality are threatened due to the intrusion by investigative agencies. He cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that criticised the agencies, stating that a CA cannot be held responsible for documents provided by clients.
"The time has come for a CA Protection Act, or at least some law that protects lawyers and doctors. CAs also need to be protected," he said.
The Congress leader questioned how Indian CA firms could compete when tenders are floated for mandates worth more than Rs 500 crore.
"Which Indian law firm, or CA law firm, can even bid for it? All this is happening because these (four big) firms have great influence. Most of the children of bureaucrats are either joining these firms, or nowadays they are becoming lawyers," he said.
Tankha said it was time to encourage domestic CA firms to grow and reduce the influence of the Big Four, who "audit, account, and operationalise everything that happens in India."
He also highlighted the contribution of over 8,000-10,000 CAs working in West Asia, saying they are bringing business and money into India.