How will India converge its Accounting Standards (India AS) with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?

The first phase of the convergence process will likely require companies with a net worth of more than INR 10 billion to transition to the IFRS from April 2015. Companies with an annual turnover between INR 5 and 10 billion will follow this from April 2016. By converging India AS with the IFRS, India will join the more than 100 countries that have already adopted or converged with the IFRS., which aims to improve investor confidence via increased transparency and comparability across firms, industries and countries.

India’s eventual “convergence” with the IFRS will differ from “adoption” in that India AS will be altered to conform with the IFRS rather than requiring full-fledge adoption of the standards outlined by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This will preserve differing terminologies between the IFRS and India AS while adding some new concepts and models such as Acquisition Method in lieu of the Purchase Method.