Page 10 - Banking Finance June 2019

GST UPDATE

Trucks covering 10-15% Cos Act & GST increase demand for CAs
Data from placement records of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
more distance daily in
(ICAI) has revealed that the increasing
GST regime
regulatory scrutiny and governance stan-
The implementation of GST and e- dards boost demand for chartered accoun-
way Bill has enabled trucks to cover tants (CAs) to help navigate business. Pay
10-15 per cent more distance in a
packages, too, have improved as the high-
day in comparison to the pre-GST era
est salary in case of international job
while helping in lowering logistics
postings has now doubled to Rs 36 lakh per
cost, said Mahindra Logistics, which
annum compared to last year.
observed a demand slowdown for the
quarter-ended March - both sequen- As much as 3,815 job offers were made to
tially and annually. the 6,646 qualified CAs who opted to take part in the placement cycle of ICAI in
February-March 2019, up from 1,473 offers received by CAs during 2018. Ama-
Customer base of Mahindra Logistics
zon, Accenture, ANI Technologies (Ola), Alstom, Barclays Global Services, Flipkart
comprises automobile, consumer
and ITCare are some of the firms that recruited CAs from ICAI campus place-
durables firms and fast-moving con-
ments this time. The demand for CAs from the banking sector was also high added
sumer goods. "Trucks moving 300-
350 km a day in the pre-GST days are ICAI.
now moving 400-410 km. Fast turn-
"This placement programme has attracted the highest ever participation from
ing wheels have led to a drop in cost
recruiters, offering most positions since the inception of the institute. Educa-
of logistics," said Pirojshaw Sarkari,
tion and training at ICAI will ensure that its newly qualified CA professionals have
CEO, Mahindra Logistics.
the critical rudimentary sense equipped with a sceptical approach," said ICAI
The firm has experienced a slowdown president Prafulla P Chhajed.
in the segment of passenger vehicle
The introduction of reforms as well as the overall increase in economic activity
and flattening of FMCG and consumer
has been the key drivers in increasing the demand for CAs in the business world.
durable demand in the quarter-ended
"New reforms in taxation and continuous changes in the Companies Act and rules
March. However, the slowdown in
have prompted enterprises to take a systematic approach to compliance, re-
demand could not impact Mahindra
Logistics grossly as the unorganized sulting in increased demand for CAs," CIEL HR Services director and CEO Aditya
logistics sector is turning into orga- Narayan Mishra said.
nized. GST has developed the way the
730 CAs among 3,180, who accepted job offers, received salary packages of over
firm had expected.
Rs 9 lakh a year, and 55% landed offers in an annual pay package of Rs 7.5-9
"The consumer-facing companies - lakh. However, average salary packages saw a marginal decline due to bulk
FMCG, consumer-durables - which recruitment by few companies.
were staying away from third party
Around 139 companies from different sectors visited the campus to recruit
logistics and handled transportation
CAs, in comparison to 130 companies who hired at the placements drive last
and warehouse internally or through
year. While last year 42% of the CAs bagged offers, this year saw a considerable
clearing and freight agents, have
now started having large distribution increase with 57%. 9,011 qualified CAs from across the country registered
centers. They are now outsourcing for the current placements GST session, which was held over 17 centers in the
warehousing and last mile transpor- country.
tation to third party logistics play-
ers," said Sarkari. After implementa-
tion of GST, the firm is hopeful for
emerging opportunities in areas of
sub-assembly of automobile parts,
which is an international trend that
will now catch up in India.

10 | 2019 | JUNE | BANKING FINANCE