ICAI MAy exams stand cancelled (Representational image)

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has decided to cancel the May 2020 exams and merge them with November 2020 exams “due carryover of all benefits already available to students including the fee paid and exemptions,” the institute said in a recent notice.

“The students who have made an application for May 2020 Examinations will have an option to change the group(s) of their appearance and centre of Examinations at the time of making a fresh application for November 2020 Examinations, which, subject to conditions prevailing at the relevant time, will start from 1st November 2020. It is again clarified that in this schema, the students will be free to exercise the options afresh for the groups that they intend to appear in the November 2020 examinations,” the ICAI said in a recent notice.

This has come after the ICAI had postponed the CA exams several times and also gave an “opt-out” option to students as per which those who wish to appear for the exam could take it while others could give it a miss. This was considered an unequal opportunity by many. The opt-out link was available from June 17 to June 20.

“With Unlock1, the severity of COVID 19 Pandemic was expected to subside from the later part of June 2020, but has rather become more severe and, therefore a Review as per announcement dated 15 June 2020 has become necessary,” the ICAI said. “In order to ensure the interest of its students and their well-being, the Institute has decided to cancel May 2020 Examinations and merge the May 2020 attempt with November 2020 Examinations,” it added.

In case students have any queries, they can write to the authorities at may2020exam@icai.in. Generally, ICAI is held twice a year, however, this time the last exam was held in November 2019 and now the next would be November 2020.