Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) announced on Thursday i.e. November 19, 2020, that the January/February ICAI 2021 examination shall commence from January 21, 2021. The entrance exam shall be conducted across all those cities where the November 2020 examination is being conducted. Authorities took to Twitter to announce the examination date after multiple debates on the same were conducted by aspirants on the social media platform. They further stated that other examination details like exam schedule and release of admit card shall be notified soon on the official website. The national-level entrance exam shall be conducted across the country for candidates who wish to pursue chartered accountancy training and certification.
S. K. Garg, Additional Secretary – Exams, issued a notice implying that in continuation with the announcement made on November 7, 2020, the January/February cycle of CA entrance exams shall commence from January 21, 2021. Aspirants shall be intimated of other important details such as exam schedule and admit card on their official website icai.org after the last date of the “opt-out” scheme.

Many students shall not be able to appear for ICAI CA exams scheduled from November 21 to December 14, 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. For such students, ICAI has decided to conduct cycle 2 of exams in the months of January and February 2021. This development also comes with authorities introduced the opt-out scheme in which candidates are permitted to not attend the foundation, intermediate and final CA exams in November 2020. However, this opt-out facility will only be applicable for candidates whose examination centers and places of residence lie in the containment zones from November 21 to December 14, 2020.
Aspirants can apply for the opt-out facility by submitting a form of declaration available on the website icaiexam.icai.org. These opt-out candidates can appear for the cycle 2 CA exams in January 2021. For those candidates appearing for the cycle 1 CA exams from tomorrow i.e. November 21, 2020, the entrance tests shall be conducted in the online mode through the computer-based format. The exam shall be organised at specific CA exam centers across the country.
ICAI has taken certain extra measures this year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. These extra measures as well as important instructions are mentioned in the ICAI CA Admit Card issued to students by the authorities. Exam-day guidelines have also been issued to candidates appearing for foundation, intermediate and final CA exams. Furthermore, to tackle the challenges due to the COVID19 pandemic, the institute has also allowed students to submit their questions pertaining to the exam on the official website.