Sensex Devta

The ICFA and AIMR came together in 1990 to have a common uniform curriculum and bring all the societies under one umbrella. ICFAI had brought out its academic curriculum to suit Indian finance professionals, though it had global content. ICFAI wanted to function independently and had established working relationships with the European Federation of Financial Analysts (EFFAS) and the ASAF (Asian Securities Analysts Federation) with regard to development of the Profession of Security Analysts and its course content. ICFAI also wanted to bring its CFA as an Indian Statutory Charter. All this led to the dispute with AIMR, the parent body of CFA Institute which wanted a uniform curriculum or body of Knowledge throughout the world for CFA program whereas ICFAI wanted changes in CFA charter to suit Indian regulations as finance professional used to work in an extremely regulated capital markets. AIMR eventually broke its working relationship with ICFAI and CCFA.

1. In 1998 a United States District Court issued an injunction that prohibits ICFAI's use of all CFA Institute trademarks and confusingly similar trademarks in the United States and Canada. Although ICFAI challenged that order in late 2006, the injunction remains in place.

2. On May 8, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, vacated a Default Judgment issued against ICFAI that the CFA Institute (formerly AIMR) obtained in October, 1998. ICFAI recently moved to reopen the case and to vacate the Default Judgment because the Court lacked jurisdiction over ICFAI at the time the Default Judgment issued. Recognizing the merits of the ICFAI arguments, the Court vacated the October, 1998 Default Judgment.

3. With the Default Judgment vacated, ICFAI informed all its CFA charter holders that its earlier communication on not using the CFA charter in U.S. and Canada is treated as withdrawn.

4. However, on September 4, 2007, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reversed its decision to vacate the 1998 injunction against ICFAI after a motion to reconsider that decision was filed by the CFA institute.

5. The Delhi High Court rejected the CFA Institute's appeal against operating in India, the reason being CFA Institute did not have approval from AICTE. The verdict was delivered on 15 December 2007.

On 27 May 2008, The Delhi High Court allowed the CFA Institute to conduct examinations in India scheduled on 8 June. This is an interim order on a petition by the CFA Institute challenging the single bench order disallowing it from conducting examinations in India.

While making it clear that further enrollment by the Institute will be done with the approval of the court, the bench comprising Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said: "Prima facie, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Act is not applicable (to CFA Institute)."

In 2007 AICTE, India's governing body in technical education concluded that CFA Institute had not obtained its approval to conduct the CFA Program in India and must cease all operations in India.