The Hindu Business Line : ICSI seeks piece of trade opportunity with Singapore

COMPANY Secretaries have spotted a huge opportunity in the proposed free trade agreement between India and Singapore. The Central Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India is proposing to pitch for inclusion of the profession in the trade list.

"With the Singapore Government reportedly considering recognising Indian degrees to attract professionals from fields as diverse as medical science, financial services, chartered accountancy, engineering and legal services, we want to impress upon the Indian Government to consider the company secretary (CS) profession also," said an Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) official.

Sources told Business Line: "The issue was in fact deliberated in detail at our central council meeting on Friday. A company secretary can offer services in the area of corporate law and board management. We want to highlight the areas of core competency of the profession and also point out that he can help resolve the in-house legal issues of a company as well."

Linking with Singapore will also help the services sector to strike a link with the global market, according to professionals.

Another issue that cropped up at the central council meeting was CA-CS partnership or the concept of multi-disciplinary mega firms to meet global challenges.

However, no decision was taken on the subject, as the members need to understand the issue in depth, ICSI official said.

Some of the issues that still need to be addressed on the subject of allowing partnership of practising CS with members of other recognised professions includes whether such firms would be limited liability partnership firms and in case of multi-disciplinary partnership firm, who will sign the documents, certificates or audit reports.

"Though there was an in-principle agreement among the members for a need for such firms, it was decided that the matter needs to be studied in detail," sources said.

The Institute proposes to take it up at the Co-ordination Committee meeting of all the professional bodies - Institute of Chartered Accountants of India , Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India and ICSI.

The central council also deliberated upon various opportunities available for the professionals in various sectors.

To enable its members to take on new roles, the Institute proposes to conduct programmes for its members.

Areas in indirect taxes offer vast opportunities for the members. It will, however, require the members to acquire professional skills, for which the Institute proposes to take up development programmes.