Click to play videoNew Delhi: After months of preparation for the American CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Charter, Rajiv Bhardwaj was in for a shock.
The CFA Institute sent him a mail that the June 3 exam might not be held at all. The reason given was that the technical education regulator, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has asked the institute to cease its operations in India.
AICTE is the advisory and statutory body, established for proper planning and co-ordinated development of technical education system through out the country.
This move has left the future of more than 10,000 CFA candidates uncertain.
"I have been preparing for the last three to four months and now just 10 days before the exam, all this has caused lot of tension and depression," says Rajiv.
The CFA Institute had told AICTE that their CFA programme does not come under the purview of the regulator. But AICTE found this response unacceptable.
The ban comes in the wake of a bitter fight between ICFAI, the Indian CFA course and the American institute. The Indian arm dragged the American institute to AICTE, accusing it of being illegal.
The American institute that has 6,800 students enrolled, has informed students they can defer the exam or cancel it and take full refund.
The institute has also given an option to take their exam in some other country. Sources in the institute says the American Institute is planning to challenge the AICTE's order in the Delhi High Court.
In a written response, CFA Institute said: "We believe that the CFA program is not a technical program or a diploma and therefore not subject to AICTE regulations, but we will certainly comply with regulatory requirements, as we understand them. We are working diligently to find a solution that would allow us to offer the CFA exams in India as scheduled on June 3."
(With inputs from Bikas Mishra in Mumbai)
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