Demand for CAs up 37%, pay packages rise too – Times of India

CHENNAI: There has been a 37% increase in demand for Chartered Accountants (CAs) and their pay packages has seen an upswing too, this year, as the campus placement season draws to a close.
In its first-ever virtual campus placement program concluded last month, 2,923 jobs offered for fresher Chartered Accountants compared to 2,135 jobs offered in the placements session last year.
The average annual salary offered also rose to Rs 8.9 lakh from Rs 7.4 lakh in the placement conducted during last year.
Atul Kumar Gupta, president at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the apex body for CAs said, “Their (Chartered Accountants) role is more important in prevailing circumstances.
Today’s CAs can be complete business solution providers and companies across sectors are looking for “sound professional advisors who can manage their finances and working capital, thus providing lifeline to other functions,” he added.
Companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, TCS and Infosys, hired in the placements session this year. 133 companies offered jobs in the jobs drive this year compared to 137 in the previous year.
At Rs 23.3 lakh, the maximum salary package offered for domestic posting this year was almost the same as last year’s Rs 24 lakh per annum. ICAI does not disclose the details of salary packages.
“The major recruiters at the current year’s campus are from sectors including financial services, banking, IT, BPO and others comprising 80% of total recruitments, ICAI said.
18 new companies hired from the campus placements drive this year, the institute added. The institute did not specify the names of the new hirers.
In addition to demand for freshers, the need for experienced CAs also rose this year.
In ICAI’s jobs drive for experienced CAs held in September, the number of recruiters doubled and listed vacancies are reported to have grown four times as compared to last year.
“As against 14 recruiters last year, 29 recruiters have registered for this programme declaring 899 vacancies as against 226 vacancies last year, for CAs with experience between 1 to 20 years,” a spokesperson for ICAI said.
ICAI conducts placement sessions for newly qualified CAs twice a year post the results of its final examination, however, during the current year, ICAI organized it virtually in August-September 2020.