Big 6 Indian audit firms strengthen dominance, oversee two-thirds of Nifty 500 audits: PRIME Database

The six major audit firms in India—Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, MSKA, and PwC—oversaw a significant portion of audits in the Nifty 500 companies in financial year 2023-24 (FY24). They collectively managed 323 out of 483 assignments, representing about 67% of all audits, according to primeinfobase.com. This marks an increase from the previous fiscal year, where they handled 61% of the audits.

Looking beyond the Nifty 500, these six firms handled 637 out of 1,961 audits for companies listed on the NSE main board, constituting around 32.48% of the total. This reflects a slight uptick from the previous financial year’s 32.14%.

The top 10 audit firms collectively audited 748 companies, comprising 38% of the total. EY Group led this group with 164 audits, followed by KPMG Group with 141, and Deloitte Group with 119.

They were followed by GT Group (91), Price Waterhouse Group (65), M S K A and Associates (60), Singhi Group (39), SS Kothari Mehta & Company (25), Lodha & Co (24), and Brahmayya & Co (20).

Overall, in FY24, 834 audit firms were responsible for auditing the mentioned 1,961 companies. This is a decrease from the previous fiscal’s 848 audit firms, indicating that, on average, each audit firm oversaw 2.35 companies, up from 2.22 in the previous year.

In FY23, 151 companies (out of the 1,879 companies) or 8% had joint auditors. While 48 of these were PSUs/PSBs, 103 were from the private sector. In FY24, the number of firms with joint auditors fell slightly to 140 (out of the 1,961 companies) or 7% (private sector: 100, PSUs/PSBs: 40).

In addition to this, only 22 audit firms audited 10 or more listed companies. At the other end, there were as many as 581 audit firms that audited a single listed company.

Overall, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY commanded significant influence, overseeing audits for companies with a combined market capitalisation of 49%, nearly half of the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on the NSE main board in the fiscal year 2023-24. Deloitte held 17%, while both KPMG and EY accounted for 17% and 15% respectively, according to primeinfobase.com.

Going ahead, the tenures of 222 auditors in 209 companies are set to expire in FY25, 224 auditors in 215 companies in FY26 and a huge 883 auditors in 868 companies in FY27, on account of audit rotation rules.