CHENNAI: Tata group has entered an agreement with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW)  to train Chartered Accountant students in India.

According to the agreement, the ICAEW will initially train 49 students who are being recruited into the Tata Graduate Accounts Trainee (GAT) programme from India's top universities into seven Tata Group companies.

Commenting on the decision to train some of the best Indian college graduates with the ACA qualification, Finance Director of Tata Sons Ishaat Hussain said on Monday "With the aim to maintain our growth and international presence, we need finance professionals with a global functional capability. The ACA was such a qualification and will enable us to build a team of finance professionals that can provide true leadership to our businesses."

Students under the programme will be trained using the new ACA syllabus that will be launched in September 2007, which will be tailored to meet the needs of Tata Sons, he added.

The training will be delivered so as to allow the students to grasp the knowledge and apply it quickly to their respective businesses, he said claiming that the programme will use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and will be the first of its kind in India.