ICAI set to train 1 lakh students in new GST Accountants course

Hyderabad: The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) would provide training to about one lakh students on the soon-to-be launched GST Accountants course, a senior official said on Thursday.

The government is coming out with Goods and Services Tax (GST) Accountants course, and plans to train about 1 lakh GST Accountants over the next one to one-and-half year.

The course fees would be fully funded by the Government of India, The Institute of Cost Accountants of India president Amit Anand Apte told reporters here.

The objective of the programme is to ensure that compliance as far GST is concernedincreases especially in the SMEs sector, he said adding the intention was to serve the sector because there was gap between availability of trained resources and requirements.

"GST Accountants programme will be launched very soon... about 1 lakhaccountants will be trained specifically on GST compliances. We are working out the modalities with theMinistry of Corporate Affairs and the course would be tentatively launched by February end," Apte said.

The biggest challenge before the government is that most of the SMEs are not ableto comply with the provisions of the (GST) law because they are not equipped enough with right kind oftrained accountants who can adhere to the various GST provisions, he said.

The concept is to train 1 lakh accountants across the country who will be able to serve the SMEs sector.