Girls Sweep Top 3 Ranks in CA Exams!

Yet another male bastion has been breached. It’s a long-held myth that girls struggle with numbers and finance. Well, try telling that to Maitreyee Narayansing Rajaput, Arti Jain and Charmy Suresh Sheth. The three have made history by sweeping the top three all-India positions in this year’s chartered accountancy exam, considered one of the most difficult to clear.

What’s more, the pass percentage of girls surpassed that of the boys. While 2,368 (21.9%) of the 10,816 girls who took the CA finals this year cleared the last hurdle, the pass percentage was 19.8% for boys, with 4,277 successful aspirants out of 21,603 who took the exam. Topper Maitreyee (21) of Pune is the daughter of a retired high school teacher. She told TOI she was excited that the top rankers were girls but refused to read too much into the ‘girls vs boys’ debate, saying the results could be pure coincidence.

She was surprised at her achievement, too, but had always been good with numbers. “I hope more and more girls will be drawn towards accountancy as a profession,” she said.

Industry observers say the result reflects a growing trend of young women doing well in the financial sector. “We are really proud that girls have bagged the top 3 positions. While intellectually they are second to none, there is also a sense of comfort that corporates draw while hiring them, though there is no bias,” G Ramaswamy, president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), said.

Sanjhi Agrawal, who topped the 2010 exams, said she was not surprised. “Please remember that this is not a one-off and is now a trend,” she said.