Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India
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The Institute of Financial Analysts of India (IFAI) was established in 1984 as a non-profit educational society in
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
,
Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The institution has been offering education to students across India through its various programs in the field of higher education. The institution was founded by N. J. Yasaswy, Besant C. Raj and Dr. Prasanna Chandra, the Director of Centre for Financial Management. The institute has a national presence with the sponsoring and establishment of eleven universities across India. Ten of these eleven universities have been established in the states of
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
,
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
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Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...
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Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
,
Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
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Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...
(IFAI Sikkim provides
Financial Analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...
through correspondence mode as well),
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
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Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...
, Chhattisgarh,
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
and
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
through acts passed by the legislative assemblies of the respective states. The eleventh university, namely the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), has been declared as a deemed-to-be University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. A few more university applications are at an advanced stage of processing by the respective state governments.


Pedagogy

The case study method is a key component of the academic program at IBS, which is one of the few institutions in India that has made case studies a critical component of its curriculum. Almost all the courses at IBS are taught 100% through case studies - the case studies being tailor-made to the requirements of different subject areas and topics. Student evaluation is based on class participation and written reports. Students are encouraged to analyse the issues in-depth by gathering supporting information - either through published sources or by directly interacting with the companies involved.IBS Hyderabad gives special emphasis on the case based pedagogy and teachers pitch in as facilitators of class-room discussion.


Indian CFA

The ''Indian CFA'' is a Charter awarded to candidates completing the ''Master in Investment and Financial Analysis'' at the university; the program is focused on financial analysis as applicable to investment management. See next section.


Trademark disputes CFAI vs ICFAI


History of the dispute

The
Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...
(CFA) program was first delivered through AIMR (today's
CFA Institute The CFA Institute is a global, not-for-profit professional organization that provides investment professionals with finance education. The institute aims to promote standards in ethics, education, and professional excellence in the global investme ...
) in the USA, and later in India with the partnership of the then Institute of Certified Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI). Note that ICFAI is not affiliated with the CFA Institute and both the institutes have broken their partnership and are running their courses separately. There was a long pending trademark dispute between CFA Institute, USA & ICFAI over the use of the CFA Designation. On 25 May 2012, both the parties decided to resolve this long pending dispute and have entered into an agreement under which ICFAI will stop providing the CFA Charter. This will allow both the parties to mutually co-exist and pursue their business objectives. ICFAI would continue to operate under the ICFAI brand but will begin phasing out the CFA designation over the next few years. The Candidates who have already been awarded the CFA Charter have been requested by ICFAI to use "CFA (ICFAI)" to help distinguish themselves from the
CFA Institute The CFA Institute is a global, not-for-profit professional organization that provides investment professionals with finance education. The institute aims to promote standards in ethics, education, and professional excellence in the global investme ...
Charter holders.


ICFAI vs ICAI

In August 1989, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the national statutory body for professional accounting, imposed restrictions on its members on the use of the designation of `CFA' awarded by the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI). The ICAI notification issued on August 3, 1989 says that "if any member of ICAI, i.e. any Chartered Accountant, who obtained the qualification of Chartered Financial Analyst warded by ICFAIon or after January 1, 1990, or has obtained the said qualification earlier did not surrender the same before the said date, e/shewould be held guilty of professional misconduct under the provisions of the Chartered Accountants (CA) Act." The ICFAI and others filed petitions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the notification. A single judge and a Division Bench dismissed them. ICFAI appealed the notification, contending that it was violative of a person's fundamental right to practise any profession guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution. On May 16, 2007 the above notification was quashed by Supreme Court of India, and the ICAI was barred from applying the aforementioned prohibitions on its members.


Future of ICFAI and CFA

ICFAI, having been embroiled in a long legal battle with the CFA Institute, focused its energy on developing private universities, some of which have AICTE recognition along with UGC recognition. ICFAI has focussed all its energies away from developing its CFA charter like giving it statutory recognition increasing its status as a high status profession like that of CA from ICAI, which was announced by the governing member NJ Yeshasway who vowed to take up the CFA Charter a notch above the legendary CA exam considered to be the toughest in the realm of finance, but instead has opened a host of non-CFA programs like MBA, ICFAI Business Schools (IBS), PG Programs which have scaled up into national top 10 place in India. It has also opened schools for under graduate programs and offering degrees. Indian CFAs pass with a stringent eligibility to qualify as CFAs but have only a niche finance sector as the job market unlike CA which has traditional roles of Auditing and taxation along with statutory roles. CFAs work in investment related and finance fields where MBAs (some from ICFAI itself), CAs, Master's degree holders of Statistics, Economics, Doctorates etc. hold top posts. ICFAI though has safeguarded its CFA charter in India with valid state legislature under IUT Tripura Act, but CFA charterholders are not mandatorily employable and currently don't perform any statutory duty unlike CAs, CSs, CWAs, though CCFA tried to accomplish this in investment related areas in India by submitting a draft bill to the ministry of finance for consideration which was rejected due to various legal disputes that ICFAI faces. Also here is a fact to note that ICFAI University Tripura has never been permitted to conduct any distance learning/correspondence course by UGC. CFAs are employed only because of their course contents and rigor of the CFA program, which is the only reason they have got market acceptance with very few qualifying as CFAs every year. ICFAI has very few CFA charter holders, compared to other professionals and hence they don't have a large and established presence in the Indian job market. Indian companies have tied up with other Indian bodies like AMFI or NSE in offering investment designations and courses.As per information on ICFAI Tripura website this has DEC Approval and Recognition of Directorate of Distance Education, The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Tripura, by the Distance Education Council "Distance Education Council (DEC) Vide their letter No.DEC/Recog/2010/277 dated August 04,2010 has accorded recognition to the Directorate of Distance Education, The Icfai University, Tripura and its programs after inspection by an expert joint committee consisting of UGC, AICTE and DEC nominees. " Frequent changes to eligibility requirements changes in fee structure, exorbitant council membership charges etc., have caused confusion among the student community. Many founding members have left ICFAI as they were not happy with the way ICFAI treated its flagship course. The course, which was once a stepping stone for Indians into analytic finance has become just one more obscure degree due to continuous changes in the curriculum. As a result, there is negativity about this course in the Indian corporate world. Keeping in view the demands from the corporate world and impending competition, ICFAI is thinking of bringing wholesale changes in the curriculum and the training method from the current academic year. The new course can only be completed in 24 months and will include a training program for the passing students of final exam. ICFAI is also creating a window for students of CFA program to undergo 2 months internship with its in-house concerns to impart rigorous analytical skills. Exemption for MBAs will be stopped from the current academic year. Also, ICFAI is drafting a continuing professional development module which will be compulsory for all the current CFAs. This program will enable the current CFAs to enhance their knowledge in their respective areas and will include relevant statutes changes, paradigm shift in capital markets and allied subject matter. ICFAI hopes to regain the old status of its CFA program through continuously evolving methods, the most recent is focussing on the core aspects of investment management and financial analysis in its MFA degree(current CFA syllabus) and increasing CFA charter membership by giving official charters to students who have cleared the core subjects of investment management and financial analysis of the previous(CFA curriculum) MS Finance program.


References


External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges in Hyderabad, India 1984 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Organizations established in 1984 Professional certification in finance