The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI), headed by a president from Gujarat, has decided to move its national headquarters to Delhi from Calcutta.

Current president Ashwin G. Dalwadi has orchestrated the move to shift the institute to Delhi.

Citing the rationale for moving the headquarters, Dalwadi communicated to the members that the objective was to come closer to the central government.

"I am pleased to inform you that with the overwhelming and wholehearted support of my esteemed council colleagues, the Council of the Institute at its 349th meeting held on October 27, 2023, in Ahmedabad, has passed a resolution to come closer to the government, regulators and other stakeholders to shift its headquarters from Calcutta to Delhi," the president had said in a statement published in the institute's journal in November.

In a separate communication on February 3, 2024, the council decided to seek the opinions of its members through electronic voting on a referendum on the shift of headquarters "understanding the emotional impact of this decision on members worldwide".

Just 28 per cent of the members voted on the proposal, with 93.8 per cent of the votes cast supporting the shift.

Questions have been raised on the shift of headquarters by a section of the institute's members.

Biswarup Basu, former president of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, in a letter to the current president, said that the agenda of shifting the headquarters is nothing but an attempt to shift the focus of the institute's failure in professional development.

"It may be noted that for the last 4 decades, the Professional Development Directorate is situated in Delhi but despite that as per your language, the institute could not come 'closer to the government'," Basu said in the letter.

A section of members have also asked the institute's president to clarify transparently whether the institute has received any confirmation from the government for shifting the headquarters and whether it has taken any approval from the central government for e-voting on the referendum.