ET NEWS

New Delhi: The government will likely amend the law governing the chartered accountancy profession to ease restrictions on these professionals and their firms to advertise themselves, in a significant change aimed at enabling them to draw assignments better by showcasing their services, and grow, people aware of the details said.Under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, CAs and their firms are currently allowed to advertise only in a limited manner through "write-ups", with curbs on the size of the font and photographs that can be used, among other restrictions. The new plan is aimed at facilitating the creation of big homegrown firms that can compete with international players and grab a slice of the $240 billion global auditing and consultancy market.ICAI mulling changes to Ethics CodeWhen sought his views, ICAI president Charanjot Singh Nanda said the apex auditors' body, too, is planning to suggest to the corporate affairs ministry amendments to the law to further relax advertisement rules for its members.The institute is also considering a revision of its Code of Ethics for chartered accountants and firms, he told ET. This would include revision of the guidelines for advertisement and websites for accounting firms and network firms. The ICAI will release draft regulations for this purpose in a day or two for stakeholder comments, he said.The need for "certain relaxations has been identified, such as in the adopted mode of technology (pull or push mode), event gallery, font size, etc. and recommendations are being structured accordingly", Nanda said. "These guidelines, while ensuring adherence with ethics, will enhance visibility for firms and their services."The Chartered Accountant Act, in its original form, didn't allow professionals or firms any advertisement. However, after amendments to the law in 2006, limited advertisements through write-ups were permitted, subject to conditions. Subsequently, the ICAI issued Advertisement Guidelines, stipulating various dos and don'ts. To facilitate the creation of large domestic audit and consultancy firms comparable to the Big Four, Nanda said the institute has submitted its suggestions to the corporate affairs ministry. These include facilitating consolidation and growth through simplified regulatory procedures and fiscal incentives, bolstering the operational capacity of domestic networks of Indian CA firms and improving the overall ease of professional practices by rationalising compliance requirements, he added. The absence of large homegrown firms has allowed the Big Four-EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC-along with Grant Thornton and BDO to dominate the Indian audit ecosystem. For its part, the institute has taken a raft of measures, such as revision of the Merger & Demerger of CA Firms Guidelines, 2024 and introduction of Aggregation of LLPs Guidelines, 2024, to encourage CA firms to build scale via collaborations, Nanda said.

Indian companies increased their reliance on the debt money market for their short-term working capital needs with the issuance value of commercial papers increasing to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in September, the highest monthly print since April.It marked a 44% jump from the value seen in August and a 34% year-on-year increase, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. This was despite the hardening of average yield on commercial papers in September. August saw a CP value of Rs 1.18 lakh crore while it was Rs 1.27 lakh crore in September last year.The trend is in line with the structural shift in fundraising among Indian companies.“Corporates are cash-rich, while they have access to debt and equity markets. They have multiple sources of funding,” ICICI Bank executive director Sandeep Batra said last week.The total flow of resources from non-bank sources to the commercial sector increased by Rs 2.66 lakh crore in 2025-26 till September, more than offsetting the decline in non-food bank credit by Rs 48,000 crore, the central bank documents showed.Among the non-bank sources, issuances of corporate bonds by non-financial entities increased by Rs 1.66 lakh crore while net inward foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by Rs 0.93 lakh crore. Non-bank lenders, too, remained a dominant source of non-bank credit.“A structural change is happening in the economy in terms of where the funds are raised from. Historically we were used to looking at the credit growth data as an indication of resource availability. That is no longer the case,” chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran had said last month at an event in Kolkata.In the July-September quarter, commercial papers worth Rs 4.41 lakh crore were issued, about 15% higher than the year-ago period's Rs 3.84 lakh crore, RBI's monthly data showed.Banks' year-on-year credit growth print was at 11.4% at the end of October 3, against 12.8% seen a year ago.The overall domestic financial conditions remained mildly tight in the latter half of September. The weighted average call rate—the operating target of monetary policy—hovered close to the policy repo rate in September and October. Average yields on treasury bills moderated while those on certificates of deposit and commercial papers hardened, the central bank's state of the economy report observed. “In the fixed income segment, while the short-end of the government securities yields declined, yields at the longer-end remained flat. Corporate bond yields and spreads increased across tenors and the rating spectrum,” it said.

Russia said Thursday that new US sanctions on its oil industry risked hurting diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war, and that it had developed a "strong immunity" to them.US President Donald Trump announced new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies on Wednesday, complaining that his peace talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin were not going "anywhere".Trump held off introducing new restrictions against Russia for months, but his patience snapped after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed."We view this step as being entirely counterproductive, including in terms of signalling the need to achieve meaningful negotiated solutions to the Ukrainian conflict," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing."Our country has developed a strong immunity to Western restrictions and will continue to confidently develop its economic potential, including its energy potential," she added.

Tesla shares fell 4.4% on Thursday after the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker extended its streak of profit misses to a fourth quarter, even as sales hit record highs.Rising costs and declining revenue from highly profitable regulatory credits strained Tesla's margins, underscoring that even the EV maker is feeling the cost pressures rippling through the auto industry as President Donald Trump overhauls U.S. policy.Despite the near-term margin squeeze, Tesla's hefty valuation still rests on investor expectations that future growth will come from robotics and artificial intelligence, even though vehicle sales continue to generate most of its revenue.In the third quarter, the company's costs rose sharply, including more than $400 million in tariffs on auto parts due to Trump's trade policies, said CFO Vaibhav Taneja."The margin compression is the real concern. Higher operating expenses, increased tariffs and lower regulatory credit revenue all hit at once," said Farhan Badami, market analyst at eToro."Tesla is navigating near-term headwinds by cutting costs and managing inventory, but the long-term value story hinges on products that are still some time away from commercial payoff."Musk's ongoing pivot to position Tesla as a company focused on robotics and self-driving technology has helped restore some investor optimism.The company is set to lose more than $60 billion of its $1.47 trillion valuation, the largest for an automaker globally, if the losses hold.The stock was trading at more than 200 times the company's profit expectations, significantly higher than Big Tech and other megacap stocks.Tesla's stock has experienced sharp swings in 2025. The shares dropped as much as 39% through March amid weak demand and political backlash tied to Musk's ties with the Trump administration, which led to boycott calls.The stock turned positive this year after Tesla's board laid out a $1 trillion CEO compensation plan last month for shareholder approval, hoping to incentivize Musk to focus on the company's growth.The shares have gained nearly 9% so far this year, although it remains one of the weaker performers among the "Magnificent 7", a group of megacap technology companies.Record electric vehicle deliveries helped Tesla beat third-quarter revenue forecasts, driven by a rush among U.S. buyers to secure tax incentives before they expire. However, demand for EVs is expected to fall in the coming quarters as key credits phase out.To stimulate sales, Tesla recently introduced lower-cost "Standard" versions of its Model Y and Model 3, which cost up to $5,500 less than the "Premium" versions.