'Protect CAs, break Big Four dominance': Congress MP in Rajya Sabha

Congress leader Vivek K Tankha on Thursday in the Rajya Sabha demanded legal protection for chartered accountants and called for measures to break the dominance of four multinational audit firms in India, saying domestic CA firms need government support to compete.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Madhya Pradesh MP said 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 concern of nearly five lakh chartered accountants who live in this country and work, and also 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 .