Prime Minister’s Office holds meeting to push for India’s own Big 4

• As per Money Control on June 5, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) held a high-level meeting to explore — whether India can create its version of the Big Four — think Indian firms in the league of Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG.
• This isn’t about being anti-Big Four. It’s about India levelling up! 

Why now?

Modi’s longstanding vision: In 2017, PM Narendra Modi called for an Indian Big Four.

 “People talk of the Big 4 accounting firms. Sadly, there is no Indian firm there. By 2022, let us have a Big 8, where 4 firms are Indian.”

Next phase of Atmanirbhar Bharat: After UPI and Make-in-India, the focus is shifting to high-end services like consulting.

Untapped talent, no global brand: India has the talent. But no Indian firm is among the global elite.

Growing economy, rising demand: India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy. As public and private sector projects scale, so does the demand for top-tier consulting.

Big 4 firms in India are seeing “double-digit growth” compared to its global teams that are seeing 4-5% growth!

In India, the Big 4s clocked ₹38,800 crore in revenue in FY24 and are expected to surpass ₹45,000 crore in FY25.

What’s happening in the meeting?

The meeting is chaired by Shaktikanta Das (Principal Secretary to the PM).

Sanjeev Sanyal (member of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM) is expected to present a plan on how India could go about building these consulting powerhouses.

Also in the room: Secretaries from

• Economic Affairs (Ajay Seth)
• Corporate Affairs (Deepti Mukherjee)
• Revenue (Arvind Shrivastava)
• Financial Services (M. Nagaraju)

What does this mean?

If India does push forward with this idea, it could reshape the entire professional services industry in the country.

Homegrown firms could:

• Compete for large-scale government projects
• Build global credibility
• Offer serious competition to the current Big Four
• Create high-value jobs in India, especially in Tier 1 and 2 cities

Why should you watch out for it? The fact that it’s being led by the PMO shows the intent is strong!

Wrapping Up…

Since PM Modi’s 2017 call for a “Big 8 with 4 Indian firms,” ICAI has publicly committed to this vision.

It has been encouraging large Indian CA firms to scale up, merge, and compete internationally.

In 2023 ICAI Eased merger/demerger rules for CA Firms with 10-year flexibility

Recently (Early June 2025), ICAI approved a draft regulatory International Partnership Framework that could transform how domestic CA firms scale!