'Tariff War Could Boost India’s Rise As Global Leader,' Says ICAI Chief Charanjot Singh Nanda

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Trump’s tariff war will do India good and it will help India emerge as a world leader, said president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Charanjot Singh Nanda.

Already, 11 member countries of BRICS have agreed to use the Indian Rupee as a common currency for settlement of trade deals between them, he says, adding that “And India is getting crude oil from Russia at a highly discounted rate. Everything is going its way.”

Nanda was speaking with Free Press on the sidelines of Navdrishti - a two-day national conference of chartered accountants in the city on Sunday.  He said that India will emerge stronger from the tariff war with the USA as it is ethical in its dealings and doesn’t fear any other country.

Nanda said that India has several advantages on the financial front. “Our stock market is the best and the safest in the world, we balance imports and exports equitably and we have constituted the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to regulate the country’s special economic zones,” he said.

Besides, India has the biggest consumer base in the world with 68% of its population aged less than 40 years. “The world’s economic powers will have to deal with India, whether they like it or not,” he said.

About the impact of AI on the profession of Chartered Accountancy, Nanda said that no artificial thing, including intelligence, can ever be better than the natural. “But we will be harnessing the power of AI and using it to handle monotonous jobs,” he said.

Nanda said that the ICAI was quick to adopt new technologies. “We have launched a certificate course on AI for CAs and a large number of our members - both young and old - have done the course, he said.

The chief of the ICAI said that the CAs are working to spread financial and tax literacy in the public. “We have set up clinics at all our 180 branches where owners of startups and MSMEs can seek consultancy.

Income tax invasion thing of past

Nanda said that with the advent of modern technology, it is no longer possible to evade income tax. “Form 26AS tells everything about your financial dealings. Evading income tax is now a thing of the past”, he said.