Indian Government Its Own 'Big Four' to Challenge Global Consultancy Dominance

In a bold move to reshape the professional services landscape, the Indian government is advancing plans to establish its own version of the "Big Four" accounting and consultancy firms. Union Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed the initiative, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier call to build Indian champions in global financial and consulting services.

The objective is to reduce India’s dependency on foreign firms for critical auditing and consultancy work, while enhancing the country’s global standing, generating employment, and securing autonomy in high-stakes advisory roles—especially in government contracts.

Today, the Indian affiliates of global giants Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG dominate the audit and advisory market, managing a majority of Nifty-500 assignments and earning substantial revenues from both public and private sectors.

Historically, Indian CA (Chartered Accountancy) firms have struggled to scale due to restrictive regulations on mergers, international branding, and advertising. This is now changing. The government is considering reforms to the LLP Act and Companies Act to ease mergers and acquisitions, while the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is revising guidelines to promote collaboration and global competitiveness.

The policy push includes:

● Reserving public consulting projects for Indian-origin firms

● Easing eligibility norms that currently favor global turnover

● Launching a “Professional Services Growth Fund” to support Indian firms

● Creating a “National Quality Framework” to benchmark consulting services

The initiative aims to build robust, globally competitive Indian firms capable of serving both domestic and international markets with excellence—establishing India’s own “Big Four” to lead the future of audit and consultancy.