A meeting of the core group constituted by the ministry of corporate affairs for convergence of Indian Accounting Standards (IAS) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from 2011, held onMarch 29, said all scheduled commercial banks and urban co-operative banks (UCBs) which have a net worth of over Rs 300 crore will convert their opening balance sheet as at April 1, 2013, in compliance with the first set of accounting standards, the converged IAS.
The meeting took place under the chairmanship of R. Bandyopadhyay, secretary, ministry of corporate affairs. It was attended by the officials from ministry of finance, Sebi , RBI, Irda, CAG, PFRDA, ICAI, industry representatives and other experts. The meeting also noted that that all insurance companies will convert their opening balance sheet as at April 1, 2012 in compliance with the converged IAS. Meanwhile, UCBs which have a net worth of over Rs 200 crore but below Rs 300 crore will convert their opening balance sheets as at April 1, 2014 in compliance with the first set of accounting standards.
UCBs which have a net worth not exceeding Rs 200 crore and regional rural banks will not be required to apply the first set of accounting standards and need to follow only the existing notified IAS which is not converged with IFRSs. At the same time, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which are part of NSE ? Nifty 50, BSE-Sensex 30 and whether listed or not, which have a net worth of over Rs 1,000 crore will convert their opening balance sheet as at April 1, 2013 if the financial year commences on April 1 (if the financial year commences on any other date, then on the date immediately following April 1, 2013) in compliance with the first set of accounting standards.
Unlisted NBFCs which have a net worth of Rs. 500 crore or less will not be required to follow the first set of accounting standards though they may voluntarily opt to do so.