From Financial Struggles to Becoming a Successful Company Secretary

• Hi, I am CS Dharmesh Sarvaiya, a practicing company secretary from Mumbai.
• Growing up, we faced numerous financial challenges, which led me to abandon my plans to pursue an MBA.
• However, I was fortunate to discover the CS qualification, and today, I’m doing well for both myself and my family.
• This is a story of resilience and patience.

Surviving with limited resources

I come from a middle-class family.

The elder sister is a housewife, and the other sister and the younger brother are chartered accountants (CA).

When I was in the 7^th grade, my dad left his job and started a small tailoring shop. After school, I used to sit at his shop and help him with minor tailoring jobs, gradually learning to tailor well. Since Dad’s business was new, we used to have financial issues.

My Mom took on the housework of others to support us. Those years in our lives were challenging, but we all learned so much from them.

After the 10th standard, my eldest sister also began working to help us.

I, too, wanted to contribute, so I started my first job during my school vacation (polishing artificial jewelry), earning Rs. 927/-pm. It was an awesome feeling when I gave my complete earnings to my mother.

Balancing family responsibility and academic ambition

I was the only child who attended a private school beginning in kindergarten. I was a bright student right from the start; therefore my parents’ expectations of me were also very high.

After securing First Class in 10th grade, I started with college and secured Second Rank in 12th grade. I wanted to complete my graduation and do an MBA.

When I was in FYB.Com, my dad suffered a serious health injury. Luckily, all went well, but it took him a while to recover. Because our shop was the only major source of income and Dad’s chances of being able to work again were slim, I took over the entire shop and managed it for 6 months.

My college studies were completely neglected. One day, I decided to abandon all of my academic ambitions in order to devote my full attention to my father’s tailoring business.

However, after several operations and bed rest, my dad took over the shop and let me resume my studies.

My Company Secretary Journey

One day I realized that an MBA was going to cost lakhs of rupees.

I could not afford the same back then, so I scrapped the idea and thought of pursuing chartered accounting.

I joined a coaching class for the CPT (1^st level CA exam) but could not attend due to some family issues.

So I dropped off and my brother started attending lectures instead of me (as we did not want to waste the fees). That’s how my brother’s CA journey started. He also passed CPT on the first try.

It was during that phase that one of my uncles suggested I do company secretary (CS), and I decided on the spot that I would go ahead with it.

Because of our financial issues, I chose to self-study and work full-time at a CA firm.

CS Executive Exam:

• It took me two attempts to clear the CS Executive Exam (2nd level CS Exam; as I was a graduate, I could start with the 2^nd level directly).

Articles:

• After finishing CS Executive, I joined articles as my boss’s sole article, CS Nimish Mehta sir. He played a significant role in making me what I am today, and I am very thankful to him.
• During my articleship, I got a chance to work independently on several assignments where I learned how to handle clients.
• After completing my articleship, I started working in the accounts field and also started taking up secretarial assignments independently.

CS Final:

• I chose to self-study and work full time in CS Final (the final level CS exam) because I wanted to continue my work and independent assignments.
• Three groups of my CS Final Examinations were cleared in my first three attempts, but one group took eight attempts (4 years) to clear.
• In the meantime, my younger brother cleared his CA, and after 3 years of him becoming a CA, I cleared that one group.
• Finally becoming a qualified company secretary (CS).

CS has various benefits, including:

• It is relatively cheaper than other courses.
• It has great professional value.
• A lot of students do not understand the value or importance of being a CS. With the current reforms in the Companies Act, the scope of a CS is infinite and very lucrative.
• Being a key managerial person, a CS gets paid well.
• You can pass the course with self-study.
• The only key to being the best CS professional is to keep yourself updated.
• One should select the CS course if he or she is good at understanding legal language and laws. As the CS course is all about compliance with various statutory laws, be it the Companies Act 2031, the SEBI Act, the Labor Laws, or any other laws applicable to corporations,

How to become a company secretary in India?

If a student decides to take a computer science course after passing the 12th grade, he or she must go through three stages:

1. Foundation (Students with a 10+2 pass or equivalent in Arts, Science, or Commerce (excluding Fine Arts) can pursue the Foundation Programme.
2. Executive (the Executive Program can be pursued by a graduate of all streams except Fine Arts).
3. Professional (except for Fine Arts graduates, the Executive Program is open to all graduates).

Admission to the CS Course is open throughout the year.

Examinations are held twice a year, in June and December.

My hard work paid off 

Today, my brother Navin Sarvaiya and I are running a firm by the name of Sarvaiya & Co.

Here we provide a one-stop solution for all the accounting, taxation, audit, companies act, FEMA, finance, and related matters for our clients.

Since he is a practicing CA and I am a practicing CS, we provide complementary services to each other, benefiting us and our clients.

Additionally, we made sure our roles were clearly defined within each other’s domains, ensuring there were no conflicting viewpoints on any matter.

By God’s grace, my parents are fine, and all is great. “We are ever grateful to them for all they have done for us.