Global overhaul at Big Four firms brings fresh alignments for India

The world's biggest professional services organisations are undergoing restructuring amid slower growth and increased regulatory pressure in global markets – changes that will impact governance, management and regional alignment of their Indian operations even as the country remains a bright spot for them.

Ernst & Young (EY) is reorganising its global network into ten newly formed ‘super regions’ to streamline oversight and promote cross-border collaboration, while KPMG has started to consolidate smaller country partnerships into larger economic units, lowering from over 100 to 32 in a calibrated manner. PwC is closing practices in 12 countries to reduce reputational risk following heavy fines and penalties related to China Evergrande's $78-billion scandal. Deloitte had last year consolidated its five primary business units into four.

The wave of global changes reflects a broader trend among Big Four firms, with headquarters seeking to consolidate power and exert greater control over local partnerships, including India, which had largely has a free run until now, industry experts said.

“The top professional services firms are in a constant state of evolution, driven by shifting business needs and regulatory pressures,” said Sunil Chandiramani, a former consulting leader at EY India. “Tighter control, sharper go-to-market strategies, investment optimisation and solution transformation fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI) will only accelerate the pace of such restructuring,” he said.

Outside the Big Four, Grant Thornton US on Wednesday announced plans to acquire more than half a dozen of its sister firms across Europe and the Middle East in a private equity-backed expansion drive — a move that will open new growth avenues for GT India, which is one of the best performing globally.

“Grant Thornton has always been the only realistic big firm challenger, and with private equity capital, the growth will be supercharged,” said Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO of Grant Thornton Bharat.

Global Integration:

The Big Four firms have been struggling in Europe and the US, with low single-digit growth, triggering multiple layoff rounds and initiatives to cut costs, including the ongoing global restructuring.

But their Indian arms have been growing between 17-22% even on a large base, and the Indian centres are protected from significant job cuts even as the firms are integrating global operations, people aware of the developments told ET.

EY’s global revamp, for example, will result in job layoffs in some regions but not in India, they said.

Under the new structure, its India operations will be aligned with Africa. Rajiv Memani, who succeeded his father Kashi Nath Memani as India CEO in 2004, will continue to lead the India business while also overseeing the newly created India-Africa region as area managing partner, according to an internal communication.

Not everyone is happy with the alignment with Africa, though. "It would have been more lucrative if we had been aligned with the Middle East or other regions offering higher-return opportunities,” an EY partner said on condition of anonymity. “The Africa opportunity is not as attractive in terms of returns for Indian partners.”

Globally, EY’s financial services division will be stripped of its standalone status and integrated into the new regional structures. This will not impact India because the financial services business here – led by Pratik Shah who replaced Abhizer Diwanji last year – has always operated within the EY practice, a senior partner said.

Responding to an ET query, EY said the firm was creating new ways to collaborate across its network to meet the changing demands of clients today.

In the US, Deloitte is cutting consulting jobs after losing $372 million in government contracts, but its India centre will remain unaffected, industry sources said.

At KPMG, there are fresh indications that Project Himalaya — an initiative to merge the consulting, risk, and advisory divisions of KPMG India, KPMG UK, and KPMG US under a unified go-to-market strategy — is back under discussion, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Commenting on its move to consolidate country partnerships to larger economic units, a KPMG spokesperson said the firm sees opportunities for greater integration of some member firms over time under the collective strategy.

The firms are also looking to tighten costs in India as their growth rates have slowed marginally compared to two years ago.

EY, the rake leader in professional services in India, recently raised partner capital contributions to 50% from 30%, returning to pre-pandemic levels. Partners will fund this increase by having the firm retain their bonuses for two to three quarters. In EY, the partner bonus of the previous year is paid in four instalments in the following year to maintain good working capital levels.

As the Big Four pivot towards advisory business—consulting, tech consulting, risk, and deals— the traditional tax and audit business has become a much smaller pie.

And many are facing regulatory fines and negative media scrutiny over audit failures, sparking internal discussions on whether the auditing business be separated from the high-return advisory business to curtail risk.

In March 2025, the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) fined nine KPMG companies $3.3 million for violating audit rules while Chinese authorities last year imposed approximately $62 million fines on PwC’s local affiliate for audit failures related to Evergrande scandal.

PwC UK was recently fined £2.9 million for audit failures at Wyelands Bank while EY was also fined £4.9 million on April 10 for lapses in its audit of travel giant Thomas Cook, which folded in 2019.

Project Everest, EY’s ambitious plan to split audit and advisory, failed spectacularly, leaving the firm with $700 million (€650 million) in extra borrowing to cover the costs.