In a bold move to shake up India’s audit and consultancy ecosystem, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has scheduled a high-level meeting on September 23 to discuss regulatory changes aimed at fostering the rise of large, homegrown audit and consultancy firms — India’s own version of the “Big Four.”
This initiative follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2017 call to create at least four globally competitive Indian firms capable of rivaling the likes of EY, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG in the $240-billion global consulting and auditing market.
A Push to Transform India’s Audit Landscape
The meeting, to be chaired by Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary-2 to the Prime Minister, will bring together top officials from the Finance Ministry, Corporate Affairs Ministry, and the PMO. Their agenda: review progress since June and frame new strategies to remove long-standing bottlenecks.
At present, the Big Four firms dominate the Indian audit space, with their affiliates handling assignments of 326 out of 486 Nifty-500 companies as of March 2025. Industry estimates suggest these affiliates together earned ₹45,000 crore last fiscal, underscoring the market’s size and opportunity for domestic players.
The Roadmap for Homegrown Giants
The Corporate Affairs Ministry has already begun consulting stakeholders to enable multidisciplinary consultancy firms, where chartered accountants, lawyers, actuaries, and company secretaries could collaborate under one roof — a model long restricted in India.
Reforms under consideration include:
◆Easing restrictions on advertising and marketing for professional services firms.
◆Unified regulation across multiple professions.
◆Relaxed public procurement rules and empanelment processes.
◆Simplified fundraising norms to help Indian firms scale globally.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has also approved a draft regulatory framework that would allow Indian firms to collaborate with global peers, encouraging scale, skill-sharing, and access to international markets.
A Turning Point for India Inc.
If successful, this move could unlock a new era for India’s professional services sector — creating powerful, multidisciplinary firms that not only compete domestically but also expand globally, driving “Make in India” for services.
Industry insiders are calling the September 23 meeting a “defining moment” in India’s bid to claim its rightful place in the global consulting and auditing space.
