LEFT OUT Muslim Chartered Accountants in India Have Not Crossed Four-Digit Mark

Date:

  • Over 30 lakh new CAs required by 2047
  • Two Muslims were ICAI chiefs, in 1967 and 1979
  • No Muslims among 116 senior ICAI officers 
  • Ranchi has 33 Muslim CAs, IT hub Gurugram has 29

Team Clarion

NEW DELHI – One of the educational and professional domains in India that have been witnessing a lesser number of Muslims is Chartered Accountants (CAs) whose ‘practicing’ numbers have not crossed more than four digits at the end of 2024, according to a new book, Muslims in India 1947-2024 Fake Narratives versus Ground Realities.        

Chartered Accountants are experts in the field of accounting, finance and business compared to an accountant which is more of a transactional financial role. A practicing CA is actively engaged in providing professional services related to accounting, auditing, taxation, and financial advisory. In Ranchi, the third largest city of Jharkhand after Jamshedpur and Dhanbad, only 33 Muslims including a woman are among 1,019 practising CAs. In Kerala, Kannur city had a total of 102 CAs in active practice, of whom 15 are Muslims. Alleppey, another city in Kerala, has 15 CAs with no Muslim on the list. In Rajasthan, Jodhpur city has 145 CAs including 12 Muslims with two women. 

Haryana’s Gurugram, home to over 150 Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, Google and IBM, has 29 Muslim CAs out of a total of 7,325 in the second biggest technology hub in India and one of the top five Asian IT and Innovation hubs. Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, home to one of Asia’s largest mosques, has 63 Muslim CAs out of a total of practicing 1,301 CAs. Siliguri has four Muslim CAs out of 550 practicing in the city in the northeast state of West Bengal.  

Sikkim has 22 CAs of whom none is a Muslim. Malda, the sixth largest city (urban agglomeration) in West Bengal, has zero Muslims among its 25 CAs, like Doars, a tourism hub in West Bengal, which has 49 CAs. Uttar Dinajpur has two Muslims among the 54 CAs while Darjeeling Hills has zero Muslims among the 16 CAs. The Union Territory of Chandigarh, home to ICAI’s second largest branch in the northern region with 3,000-plus members, has 556 practicing CAs of whom only two are Muslims including a woman.  

In Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh, nine out of 2,445 practicing CAs are Muslims. Punjab’s 120 CA firms have zero Muslim presence. In Assam, only one Muslim is among the 431 practicing CAs. In January 2025, a Muslim girl from a family of Chartered Accountants in India’s most literate state, Kerala, created history by coming out first in the southern state and fifth in India in the finals of Chartered Accountants exams where the pass rate is only about 13.44 percent. 

The 22-year-old Amrath Haris Faizal excelled in the examinations conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). With an impressive score of 484 out of 600, she came out with flying colours. She had previously secured the 16th rank in the CA Intermediate Examination in 2021. Her sister and brother-in-law are both qualified Chartered Accountants. Until he was arrested for his involvement in the early 1990s Mumbai’s 13 serial bomb blast cases, Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon stood out as the best CA from the Memon community. In December 2012, Hoda bint Ahmad Ali Khan became the first Muslim girl from Rajasthan’s Tonk to pass the Chartered Accountant’s pre-test exam. Earlier two Muslim boys, Tariq Hasan and Wasim ur Rahman of the city, also passed this examination. 

In March 2015, Shabana became the first Muslim woman CA from the Karnataka coast in Karnad. Shabana is the first-ever Muslim woman candidate from the coastal region to have registered this landmark achievement. Only two or three Muslim women chartered accountants can be found in the state. K Rahman Khan, a former Union Minister of Minority Affairs, had been a Chartered Accountant (FCA), the first Muslim CA in Karnataka state in the 1960s who later on served as the Chairman of the Bangalore branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) from 1968 for a year.

In May 2018, Irfan and Anjum Bagban cleared the CA exams after their marriage. Belonging to Karad, a city in the Satara district of Maharashtra, they became the first Muslim CA couple in the state. After three years of continuous effort, Irfan cracked the CA exam in May 2017 and Anjum cleared it in November 2017. This is the first time in the 63-year history that this has happened. In January 2019, two Muslim youths secured first and second rank in the CA exams. Kota’s Shadab Hussain, son of a tailor, and Shahid Husen Shokat Menon of Gujarat secured the top two positions.  

Shadab became the first Muslim to top the CA exam (old syllabus). Scoring only 13 marks less than Shadab, approximately 837 kilometres away from Kota, in Gujarat’s Koday village, was Shahid Husen Shokat Menon. Also, Navi Mumbai students G Salim Ansari and Hafsa Abdul Wahab Dalvi secured top ranks in the national CA exams. Salim secured third rank at the national level with an impressive 477 marks. In February 2019, as many as 16 Muslim students became successful in the CA exams. Of the 1,013 students who qualified in the ICAI Commerce Wizard Test Phase II, 16 students were from the Muslim community. ICAI’s Western India Regional Council’s 28 members include two Muslims including K Murtaza who also served earlier as its chairman. It currently has 18 Muslim members. The Eastern India Region Council has one Muslim out of 81 – Arif Ahmed.

Between August 1949 and 2024, the ICAI Council had seen 73 chiefs including two Muslims – QM Ahmad (1967-1970) and WA Khan (1979-82). Currently, its 116 senior officers have no Muslim. According to data about CAs holding Certificate of Practice (COP), 65 are Muslims among 3,610 CAs across the country. In 2022, the ICAI’s Patna branch had 36 Muslims among 1,380 CAs including five women – Yusra Samar, F Fatima, Kamreen Fatma, Sumbul Jabeen and Saba Mahmood. ICAI has three types of membership – Chartered Accountants (CAs), Associate Chartered Accountants (ACAs), and Fellow Chartered Accountants (FCAs).

The ICAI is a statutory body established by the Parliament through the Chartered Accountants Act of 1949 for regulation and development of the profession of chartered accountants in the country. Since 1949, the profession has grown leaps and bounds in terms of members and student base. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and is the largest professional body of chartered accountants in the world. The ICAI affairs are managed by a council in accordance with the provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act of 1949 and the Chartered Accountants Regulations of 1988. The council constitutes 40 members of whom 32 are elected by CAs and remaining are nominated by the Central Government represented by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Ministries of Corporate Affairs and Finance, and other stakeholders. 

CAs have a long history since 1857 when the first-ever Companies Act in India was legislated and nine years later a law relating to maintenance of their accounts and audit was introduced and formal qualification for auditors was made mandatory. In 1913, the new Companies Act was enacted which called for books of accounts to be maintained, and formal qualification to act as auditor was unveiled – a certificate from the local government required to act as auditor. An Unrestricted Certificate authorised a person to act as an auditor throughout British India. 

A Restricted Certificate entitled him/her to act as an auditor only within the province concerned and in languages specified in the certificate. In 1918, a Government Diploma in Accounting (GDA) was launched in Bombay. On completion of article-ship of three years under an approved accountant and passing the qualifying Examination the candidate would become eligible for the grant of an Unrestricted certificate. However, two years later, the issue of Restricted Certificates discontinued. In 1927, the Society of Auditors was founded in Madras and three years later the government mandated that a Register of Accountants (RA) be maintained by the government to exercise control over the members in practice – Registered Accountants. Auditors were allowed to practice throughout India. 

A year after the First Accountancy Board was formed to advise the Governor General on matters relating to accountancy and to assist him in maintaining standards of qualification and conduct required of auditors, the year 1933 witnessed the first examination being held by the Indian Accountancy Board. A year after independence, an expert committee examined the scheme of an autonomous association of accountants in India. In May 1949, the passage of the Chartered Accountants Act led to the term Chartered Accountant coming in use for Registered Accountants. A month later, the ICAI took off as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal.

A study showed that membership of the ICAI in 1953, four years after its formation, had a significant over-representation of the Brahmin upper caste relative to this caste’s presence in the general population. This Brahmin presence is posited as having endowed a status to the accounting occupation that aided the replication in India of the British model of a professional organisation. Jasvinder Sidhu of the School of Accounting at RMIT University in Melbourne noted: “The caste profile of the ICAI membership in 1953 – the earliest year for which comprehensive membership list was available – revealed a reasonably consistent caste profile extending back to 1871, particularly with regard to the Brahmin caste which consistently comprised between just five to six per cent of India’s population over more than 100 years.”  

That year’s membership list had a total of 2,394 members in four categories – fellow in practice, fellow not in practice, associate in practice, and associate not in practice. The data revealed a particularly strong presence of Brahmins, who comprised just over half of the total membership. Vaishyas comprised 13.8 per cent of the membership, followed by Kshatriya (9.9 percent). Shudras made up just 1.6 per cent of the membership. It had as many as 412 non-Hindu members and the 154 Hindu members whose varna could not be ascertained. While Brahmins comprised 51 per cent of the total membership, they made up, respectively, 60.3 per cent and 63.8 per cent of the fellows in practice and fellows not in practice. 

The non-Hindu membership was not proportionately distributed among different religious and ethnic groups. The ICAI had 223 Parsi members, or 9.3 per cent of the total. “Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists were significantly under-represented. There were 263 non-Hindu Indians, comprising 11 per cent of the membership, with Parsis numbering 223. Non-Hindu, non-Parsi Indians – most of whom were Muslim – made up just 1.7 per cent of the membership.” Also, the number of women seeking to get into the number-crunching profession of chartered accountancy has taken a big leap in the past couple of years. At 50,000, 22 percent of CAs in India are women. Female enrolments to the Common Proficiency Entrance Test (CPT) for the CA course, conducted by the ICAI have increased 51 percent between 2012 and 2014. 

From 27,784 in 2012, the number of women taking the test went up to 33,460 in 2013 and further rose to 41,957 in 2014. As per ICAI, women CAs made up 20 percent of the total membership in 2012, a figure which rose to 21 percent in 2013. To address dilemmas that are specific to women CAs, the ICAI launched a work portal for women to find part-time jobs, jobs with flexible hours or jobs with work-from-home options. As per ICAI, around 2,000 women CAs have registered in the portal and around 200 CA firms have posted employment opportunities. 

The requirement of the Companies Act, 2013 is to appoint a woman director in every listed company and every public company with a minimum paid-up share capital of Rs 100 crore or an annual turnover of at least Rs300 crores. A report in May 2024 says CA holds a prestigious certification from a recognised authority, demonstrating expertise in managing business accounting and tax matters. Their responsibilities span filing tax returns, auditing financial statements, maintaining investment records, and preparing comprehensive financial reports. Employers, ranging from organisations to individuals, enlist CAs to oversee their financial affairs and seek advice on potential legal risks that could impact their finances negatively. 

Research indicates that a fresh CA with under an year of experience typically earns around Rs6.25 lakh per year, considering bonuses and overtime, based on 678 surveyed salaries. With one to four years of experience, CAs can expect an average compensation of about Rs7.08 lakh annually, based on 1,323 salaries. Those with five to nine years of experience earn an average of Rs11.05 lakh per year, based on 616 salaries. For highly experienced CAs with 10 to 19 years of experience, the average annual compensation can reach up to Rs18 lakh, based on 253 salaries. According to the ICAI data about placement for February-March 2019, the average salary offered to CAs was approximately Rs8.40 lakhs per year. 

table

The highest package offered during the placement drive was Rs22.30 lakh per year. In Dubai, entry-level CAs in MNCs can start with a salary of around AED7,500, which includes accommodation. Those working in accounting firms can expect about AED6,500 monthly. In the UK, chartered accountants with two to four years of experience can earn around £56,000 annually, including bonuses. With more experience, this can rise to about £90,200, plus a yearly bonus of around £20,600. For those eyeing a career in the US, salaries for CAs can range from about $39,930 to $111,510 annually, increasing with experience. 

At present, there are about 96,000 CA firms in India. Of these, 75,000 are proprietorships and are small and medium-sized. Another 24,000 firms are partnerships with 2 to 100 partners. Of these, about 400 firms have 10 partners or more. In April 2024, a report said the ICAI is working on five fronts to empower CA firms to become global.  Out of a total of 400,000 CAs in the country, about 160,000 are practicing professionals, according to the ICAI. As of July 2023, approximately 3.93 lakh professionals were registered as CAs in India, all members of the ICAI. 

Presently, the CA course provided by the ICAI holds approximately 8.32 lakh active students. A forecast suggests that India will have over 10 lakh CAs within the next decade due to the escalating rate of enrollment and accomplishment in the CA course. In practice and holding full-time Certificate of Practice (COP) 57,139 and 94,132, respectively. In practice and holding part-time Certificate of Practice (COP) holders are 5,189 and 2,125, respectively.  Not in practice (doing business or job or looking for employment) are 217,459 and 17,358, respectively. In a country of 6.8 crore taxpayers in 2017-18, close to three lakh CAs serve as finance guides. 

As of April 2018, there were only 2.82 lakh CAs in India, and out of which only 1.25 lakh members are in full-time practice making 44 percent of the total strength. Around 98 lakh businesses were registered under the GST regime, and every business requires a professional to manage accounts-related matters. Under the GST regime all taxpayers with annual turnover above Rs 2 crore, will be required to have a GST audit carried out by CAs. ICAI officials say there will be a need for more than 30 lakh new CAs by 2047. The professional body saw a total of 49,000 registrations at the foundational level, 58,900 registrations at the intermediate level and 21,185 students have registered for the final level since the new scheme was launched in July 2023. According to the 2020 list of empanelled CAs for assistance in circulation audits with the Registrar of Newspapers (RNI), only three out of 87 are Muslims – M Habibullah, Mohammed Shabbir, and Fauzia Siddiqui.

To read and obtain more data, Please visit: 

Muslims in India: Achievements & Accomplishments 1947-2024: Mannan, Mohammed Abdul: 9798343270259: Amazon.com: Books

Muslims in India 1947-2024 eBook : Abdul Mannan, Mohammed

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