Vadodara: Chartered accountancy (CA) students undergoing articleship are set to get a minimum of Rs 1,000 more in their monthly stipend, ICAI board of studies (operations) chairman Rajesh Sharma said on Friday.Sharma made the announcement while inaugurating the two-day national CA students’ conference – “Nakshatra: The Rise of Luminaries”, organised by the ICAI’s board of studies (operations) in association with the Vadodara branch (WIRC) and Vadodara branch of WICASA. He said the institute has proposed revising the minimum stipend payable to articled assistants.At present, depending on the population category of a city, the minimum monthly stipends are Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000. Each category will get a minimum increase of Rs 1,000 once the proposal is implemented.Highlighting the strong demand for chartered accountants, Sharma said around 5,800 newly qualified CAs registered for ICAI’s campus placement programme last year, while participating companies offered nearly 12,500 vacancies.The average annual salary package was around Rs 13 lakh, with some candidates securing offers ranging between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 24 lakh. He added that ICAI does not register companies offering annual salary packages below Rs 9 lakh for its campus placement programme.“Demand for chartered accountants will continue to grow as accounting, auditing and taxation work from several countries is increasingly being outsourced to India and the country’s economy continues to expand,” Sharma said.He said students who have cleared the CA Intermediate exam also have bright career prospects. ICAI has introduced the Business Accounting Associate (BAA) programme for such students and is considering organising campus placement drives for CA Intermediate qualifiers through its branches across the country.Dismissing concerns about artificial intelligence, Sharma said AI would strengthen rather than weaken career prospects for chartered accountants. “AI will not reduce the demand for CAs. Instead, it will increase it because professionals are able to work faster and more efficiently with the help of AI,” he said.Sharma also highlighted the employment potential under ICAI’s Corporate Mitra initiative. He said India has around 19,500 PIN code areas, but practising chartered accountants are available in only about 1,700 of them. Students trained under the initiative will be able to assist businesses in accounting, GST compliance, income tax return filing and other financial services in regions where CAs are not available.ICAI office-bearers said the CA programme remains among the country’s most affordable professional courses, with the total cost of completing it estimated to be around Rs 80,000. They added that scholarships are available for students from families with an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh.
