India has around 4.23 lakh active Chartered Accountants, according to the latest available membership data published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in its 76th Annual Report for 2024-25.

The ICAI report states that 19,488 new members were enrolled during the year ended March 31, 2025, taking the Institute’s total membership to 4,23,105 as on April 1, 2025. However, the detailed statistical table in the same report totals the membership at 4,23,104, showing a minor one-member discrepancy in the published figures. 

Of this total, 1,19,394 are Fellow Chartered Accountants and 3,03,710 are Associate Chartered Accountants. The report further shows that 1,54,552 members are in full-time practice, 7,013 are in part-time practice, and 2,61,539 members are not in practice. 

This means that only about 1.61 lakh CAs are in practice, while the majority are working outside practice, including in corporate jobs, industry, consulting, finance, taxation, audit support, start-ups, global capability centres and other professional roles.

The latest numbers also show steady growth in the profession. ICAI’s membership stood at 4,03,617 as on April 1, 2024, which increased to about 4.23 lakh by April 1, 2025, reflecting an addition of nearly 19,500 members in one year. 

The regional spread also shows that the Western Region has the highest number of members at 1,36,418, followed by the Southern Region with 93,813, Central Region with 82,708, Northern Region with 80,039, and Eastern Region with 30,126. 

The data is significant because it shows that India’s CA profession is expanding, but the number of practising CAs remains much lower than the headline membership figure. While India has over 4.23 lakh active ICAI members, only about 38% are in full-time or part-time practice, indicating that a large section of Chartered Accountants is now absorbed in employment and non-practice professional roles.

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