Inside Story:CFAI,USA Vs ICFAI,Hyderabad controversy

The ICFAI Hyderabad verses CFA Institute,USA fight has been long extended now and does
not seem to finish easily. So what is it all about?

Well this should be of more concern to the Indian community especially as it's in India from
where it has actually originated.

ICFAI,Hyderabad is a private educational organization based in Hyderabad. Earlier

sometimes in 1990, they used to have a tie up with CFA Institute,USA to conduct the CFA
program in India in a classroom like environment. After a few years,the institute made a U-
turn and broke away from CFAI,USA and started their own CFA program. In 2006,the Delhi
High Court ordered stop to unauthorized use of the CFA global CFA designation. Here is the
complete story.

But the ICFAI Hyderabad perople proved to be a little smarter. Taking India's lack of law
regarding certificate programs, the Hyderabad Institute went and got themselves registered as
a university in the state of Tripura.

Then they filed a fresh case against CFA Institute USA in the Guwahati High Court, seeking
to stop CFAI, Institute to stop conducting the CFA Program in India as it was not approved
by AICTE, which is like a governing body for technical education(includes finance) in India.
Now CFAI, Institute never sought any permission from AICTE as they always took the stand
that they are not a regular university like academic program and thus does not fall under the
purview of the the AICTE. Now the Guwahati High Court asked the AICTE for its opinion
on the matter. AICTE, not even looking into the matter properly gave a thumbs down to the
CFA Institute, and told the  Guwahati High Court that the CFA Program DOES like in its
purview and thus the CFA Program by the CFAI,Institute USA be banned in the country.The
Guwahati High Court took their views as de facto and ordered CFA Institute to stop the
program in India. Since then, the CFAI Institute has been seeking fresh orders from Delhi
High Court for the examination to be conducted in India every year. However it is interesting
to not that there have been corruption cases coming out against the AICTE official and the
head Ram Avatar Yadav has been suspended in 2009.He was also the head of AICTE when it
submitted its views against CFAI,USA to Guwahati High Court. Here is one news. Here is
another regarding the head of AICTE being suspended. It is also interesting to know that the
present HRD ministry is planning to scrap the AICTE. Another interesting fact: the ICFAI
University is in Tripura state, but the original ICFAI insitute was based in Hyderabad.So why
did it not got a university status in Andhra Pradesh and rather had to go to an obscured state
like Hyderabad,which is very underdeveloped with hardly any investments. Well rumors say
its because the then ruling party of Tripura was a communist party who hate the Americans a
lot. Well now its upto you to think.
In the latest development ICFAI has been fined $1 million by a US Court and told to pay the
amount to the CFA Institute,USA. Here is the complete story.

The Case is still going on in Guwahati and Delhi High Court. The Indian Government has
still not brought any law protecting Certificate and Charter Programs like the one being
conducted by the CFAI. However things are moving on.

The students too had to suffer alot. Because then, they had to fly out of India to give the
exam. The CFAI was very co-operative in the sense they accomodated them at eery changes
and made full refunds to the students who did want to fly out and give the exam because of
the controversy and inconvenience.

The number of students appearing for the CFAI Program also dipped.But s of 2009 it is back
to its normal and rising again as the clouds of confused have parted ways and people are
better able to understand the reality.They are willing to  go out of the country and give the
exam if the court doesn't permit to hold the exam in india. Lastly known, the figure was
around 12000, the number of students registering for the CFA Program and is counted
amongst the top four regions in terms of the number of registrations. Does the ICFAI
program match up to the CFAI Program? Well its upto ou to decide. Do your research and
you will understand how superior is the CFAI Institute's CFA Program. IT is more rigorous,
but then all good things in life never come easy. How about getting an MBA from Somalia
rather than Harvad, Stanford or IIM Ahmedabad.Well MBA is an MBA isn't it?You might
also consider joining the Pirate Industry there.