Global tax company Andersen Zeroes in on four firms for India foray

MUMBAI: After a much-contested bid, four Indian professional services companies, including two law firms, have been shortlisted by Andersen Tax to represent the global tax major in India.

Andersen Tax is the firm that was called WTAS (Wealth & Tax Advisory Services, Inc.) until 2014, when it acquired the rights to use the Andersen name.

WTAS itself was formed when 23 Arthur Andersen partners joined hands after dissolution of the firm in 2002 and formed a company that was subsequently bought by HSBC.


According to sources, in the first round about 40 Indian law firms and CA firms were in the race to become the local face of Andersen.

In the last three or four months, there have been multiple meetings between Mark Vorsatz, the global CEO of Andersen Tax, and CEOs and partners of the Indian professional services and law firms.

India would be a natural market for Andersen Tax because of the strong recall of the Andersen brand in India.

At the time of its dissolution, Andersen was India’s biggest and most profitable Big Five firm with a strong tax practice. Some of the Andersen leaders, including Bobby Parekh, Mukesh Butani and Rajeev Dimri, later formed India’s best-known tax boutique firm BMR Advisors, which split and merged with Deloitte and KPMG a few months ago.