Converge, not adopt’

The Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) has stated that India would converge with IFRS but not adopt it. While this could sound confusing initially, it appears that all that the MCA is saying is that there could be small differences with Indian regulatory requirements, which compels one not to embrace IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) with open arms. While it is a fact that one needs to be sensitive to local conditions, the concern — that one need not adopt IFRS in view of the impending changes to come in IFRS — seems unnecessary. It is a fact that IFRSs are being subject to changes ever so frequently but one cannot take away the central theme of all IFRSs — to enable formulation of a single set of global accounting standards that would invariably be followed.