ICSI Updates 2020 – Changes in CS Course – CSEET (Entrance Test)

COMPANY SECRETARY COURSE – THE NEW ROUTE

W.r.tCompany Secretaries (Amendment) Regulations, 2020.

ICSI Updates 2020 – Changes in CS Course – CSEET (Entrance Test)

Change is permanent! Sometimes the effect of changes is quite substantial. The recent notification on Company Secretaries (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 is quite transformational. This articles attempts to cover the key changes to the Company Secretaryship Course, i.e., introduction of CS Entrance Exam.

Background:

The Ministry Of Corporate Affairs has approved the notified Company Secretaries (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 which came into force on February 03, 2020on publication in the Official Gazette.

The draft regulations were published vide notification no. 710/1(M)/1 from ICSI  dated the August 06, 2019, for inviting objections and suggestions from persons likely to be affected and thus published in the Gazette of India were made available to the general public. After taking into consideration objections and suggestions as received from the general public now with the approval of the Central Government the Amended Regulations came into force.

These Amendments aims at development of students and quality of the professional at large.

Key Changes:

The Amendment features quite a numbers of Changes to the CS course structure. Students become the major stakeholder who needs to be updated on this amendment. The vital changes to the structure are:

1. Two Stage Course Structure
2. Introduction of CSEET
3. Eligibility for Executive Registration
4. Registration Cut-off Date&Pre-Examination
5. New Training Structure and Development Programme

Lets’ look into these changes in the point of view of the students on its applicability and status of the students who are already pursuing the course.

Two Stage Course Structure:

The three stage pattern of Foundation, Executive and Professional shall stand dispensed. The amendment has turned Company Secretary (CS) Course into 2 stage course, viz, Executive and Professional Programme.

There is no foundation programme from the date of notification in the Official Gazette. A new admission to Foundation Programme has been discontinued. Instead the CSEET shall be the entry point of CS Course.

Exception:

The existing students registered under the foundation programme will be allowed to appear in the Foundation Programme Examinations till expiry of the validity period of their registrations i.e. three years from the month of their registration. However they have an option to switch over even before such expiry.

Introduction of CSEET

The Amendment introduces CS Executive Entrance Test (CSEET)which will be a mandatory qualifying test forall categories of students for registration to Executive Programme, except a few. They are:

• Students who have passed CS Foundation Programme.
• Students who have passed the Final Course of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
• Students who have passed the Final Course of The Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

Note: Other than the aforesaid categories all who seek registration for executive programme irrespective of their qualification have to qualify the CS Entrance exam. The directly entry for Graduates / Post Graduates under the old regulations stand eliminated.

CSEET shall be an online Computer-based Test. CSEET will comprise of MCQs and Viva Voce. The duration of CSEET shall be 135 minutes (120 Minutes for MCQ test and 15 minutes for Viva Voce).  This aims at having entrance test at par with the other professions such as medical, engineering etc. CSEET shall be conducted 4times in year in months of May, July, November and January. The first CSEET exams are expected to be conducted by May 2020.

The curriculum of CSEET includes

• Computer Based Test of 120 Minutes consisting of four parts 50 marks each viz.
• Business Communication;
• Legal Aptitude & Logical Reasoning
• Economic and Business Environment &
• Current Affairs and Viva Voce of 15 Minutes on “Presentation and Communication Skills”

Students are require to score an aggregate of 50% and minimum 40% marks in each subject will be the qualifying criteria for CSEET. The great relief to students is that there will be NONegative Marking.

Click Here for Detailed and Official Notification of CSEET

Eligibility for Executive Registration

Until now, 10 + 2 students wishing to take the CS course had to enroll in the Foundation program and qualify it to get eligible for the Executive programme. Since now foundation programme is ruled out. The only entry to Executive Period that the student:

• has passed Senior Secondary Examination (10+2 system) conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or an examination recognized by the Central Government or State Government or equivalent thereto for the purposes of admission to Bachelor’s degree course
• has passed Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test (CSEET) conducted by the Institute in such manner, mode and eligibility as determined or passed the examinationsrecognizedand provided exemption as discussed above.

The Provisional Registration has been discontinued on introduction of new regulations.

Registration Cut-off Date & Pre-Examination

One of the major feature is the relaxation of cut-off dates for registration to Executive and Professional Programme for appearing in the examination. The revised cut-off dates are as below:

Further, Students registered under Syllabus 2017 (including those switched over to Syllabus 2017 from earlier syllabus) and onwards shall be required to successfullycomplete Pre-Examination Test before seeking enrollment to Executive andProfessional Programme Examinations.

New Training Structure and Development Programme

Finally the amendment brings in an uniform training structure and has removed the ambiguity that existed earlier. The previous structure had different training period based on levels of completion of examination (For instance, 1 year after passing Professional Programme, 2 years after passing Executive Programme and Three years on registration but not passed Executive Programme).

The new structure has simplified all this ambiguous applicability criteria and defined a simple structure where the student shall be required to complete the below training and development programme:

• Executive Development Programme (EDP) for one month duration afterpassing of Executive Programme examination;
• Practical training for twenty one months after completion of ExecutiveDevelopment Programme on whole time basis during normal working hours,-
• in a company having a company secretary in whole timeemployment
• under a Company Secretary in whole-time practice fulfilling suchcriteria as may be determined by the ICSI
• in any other body corporate or institution or organisation or entityfulfilling such criteria as may be determined by the ICSI;

• After passing the Professional Programme Examination, a Corporate Leadership Development Programme (CLDP) for not less than thirty days butnot exceeding sixty days as may be determined by the Institute.

Exemption:

A student who claims to have acquired practical knowledge and skills equivalent to Executive Development Programme and Practical training may make an application for exemption from undergoing the same in accordance with the criteria. The ICSI may, grant full or partial exemption or conditional exemption or reject the same after considering the application

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