Indian Government wants antitrust review of four major accountants – source

NEW DELHI / MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian government wants the country's antitrust body to check whether the so-called "Big Four" audit firms and their affiliates are hurting competition, said a senior official. government official to reporters.

The Indian Competition Commission (ICC) is to conduct an investigation or investigation to determine whether the four major groups, including PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG, abuse their dominant position in the Indian market. audit, said the official, who mentioned the matter on condition of anonymity.

The Indian Ministry of Commercial Affairs, which shares this view, has not yet sent a formal request to the ICC to investigate the matter, said the official.

"If you look at the 500 largest Indian companies, they are totally dominant and the Big Four seem to share the work … whatever the reason, there seem to be barriers to entry," said the manager. to journalists.

"CCIs should be concerned about the dominance of these four global auditors and whether they are going against the competition."

The ICC and the four auditors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The four major auditors work for nearly 60% of the 500 largest companies trading on the Indian National Stock Exchange (NSE), according to the NSE Infobase enterprise data tracker.