Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

India has more chartered accountants than almost any country on Earth. One body alone decides who gets to call themselves one, and it has run that gate since before India’s own Constitution.

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Guarding the Profession Since 1949

Nearly 80 years old, and now sharing oversight with a newer regulator

1949

ICAI Is Born

Set up to regulate India’s Chartered Accountancy profession.

2018

Loses Sole Audit Oversight

NFRA is created, ending ICAI’s exclusive grip on big-company audits.

Feb 2025

A Record Crackdown

241 CAs disciplined in one year, more than double the year before.

Mar 2026

A Formal Link to NFRA

A new bill proposes tying ICAI’s registration data directly to NFRA.

The throughline: ICAI still trains, admits, and disciplines every Chartered Accountant in India — but it no longer polices the profession’s biggest audits alone, and the law is now formally stitching the two watchdogs together.

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Timeline

• 1 July 1949: The ICAI is established, under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. This date is now marked as CA Day.
• 2018: The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is created, ending ICAI’s exclusive self-regulation of large-company audits.
• 21 February 2025: ICAI announces a record 241 disciplinary actions against members in one year.
• 23 March 2026: The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 is introduced, proposing to formally link ICAI’s auditor registration data to NFRA.

Structure and Membership Need to Know

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is India’s statutory body for regulating the Chartered Accountancy profession.
• It was set up under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, and functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• ICAI is governed by a Council of 40 members. Of these, 32 are elected directly by the profession’s own members.
• To become a member, a candidate must pass ICAI’s prescribed exams, and complete a three-year practical training period called articleship.
• ICAI is the world’s second-largest professional accountancy body by membership.

Powers and Professional Oversight Good to Know

• ICAI conducts the CA course, sets India’s auditing and accounting standards, and enforces a code of professional conduct for its members.
• Its disciplinary powers only reach individual Chartered Accountants. It cannot take action against a CA firm as a whole.
• In February 2025, ICAI reported a record 241 disciplinary actions against members in a single year, up sharply from 119 the year before.
• ICAI has publicly defended Chartered Accountants’ exclusive right to conduct statutory audits, pushing back on Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants seeking similar recognition.
• ICAI also caps how many tax audits one member can sign off on in a year. That limit stands at 60 audits per member. It reaffirmed this cap for the year starting 1 April 2026.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) was established on 1 July 1949, under which Act?

Companies Act, 1913

Chartered Accountants Act, 1949

Auditors Act, 1956

Institute of Chartered Accountants Act, 1961

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The NFRA Relationship Great to Know

• ICAI lost its exclusive self-regulation of large-company audits in 2018, when the government created the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA).
• NFRA can act against an entire CA firm, something ICAI itself still cannot do under its own Act.
• The two bodies have real, acknowledged jurisdictional overlap. They are now actively coordinating, to avoid launching duplicate investigations into the same conduct.
• The proposed Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 would formalise that relationship further. It would require every auditor and audit firm to register with ICAI, with that data then shared onward to NFRA.

Current Affairs

• 23 March 2026: A new bill proposes tying ICAI’s own registration records directly into NFRA’s oversight system.
  • The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposes a new Section 132A, requiring an auditor or audit firm to register with ICAI, and to share that registration with NFRA, before they can be appointed under Section 139. (Source: Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas)
  • As of this reporting, the Bill remains with a Joint Parliamentary Committee for review. (Source: Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas)
• 21 February 2025: ICAI reports its strictest year yet for disciplining its own members.
  • 241 Chartered Accountants faced disciplinary action in the year, versus 119 the year before, with some members losing their ICAI membership for up to five years. (Source: Taxscan)