06-07-2025
Hardship to triumph: Vadodara boys bag top CA ranks
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Vadodara: The recently declared Chartered Accountancy (CA) results by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) brought pride and celebration to Vadodara, as two city students earned top ranks at the national level.
Overcoming personal and financial hardships, Kunj Patel and Harendra Thakor emerged as inspiring success stories — securing All India Ranks (AIR) 9 and 26 respectively in the CA Final exam held in May this year.
Kunj Patel, 23, hails from Kinkhlod village near Umeta, on the border of Anand and Vadodara. He is the only child of Manish Patel, a farmer, and Parul Patel, a homemaker. The family cultivates crops on a modest 2.5 vigha of land.
Despite his rural roots, Kunj was always drawn to the world of finance. "My schooling was made possible through financial support," he recalled. Kunj studied at Vatsalya International School in Borsad and later completed his BCom from K. M. Agrawal College, affiliated with Mumbai University, in 2022.
That same year, he topped Vadodara in the CA Intermediate exams. "This is the first time I've secured an All India Rank— and that too in the top 10," he said.
Crediting hard work and consistency for his success, Kunj now plans to gain experience at a reputed CA firm before starting his own practice.
While Harendra Thakor's path was shaped by resilience. His father, Shyam Thakor, served in the police department before passing away in 2013 due to health complications. Since then, the family has relied on his father's pension to meet household expenses. His mother, Asha Thakor, is a homemaker.
Harendra completed his BCom from MS University's Faculty of Commerce in 2022. "I began my CA journey in the second year of college," he said. His elder brother, Hrithik, is a qualified Cost and Management Accountant (CMA). With an AIR 26 to his credit, Harendra now aims to pursue a corporate career in finance.
This year's CA results brought multiple reasons for Vadodara to celebrate. In the CA intermediate level, the five AIR rankers included Gaurav Shah, AIR 30, Gokani Diya Shailesh, AIR 32, Manya Sinha, AIR 37, Khushi Parag Shah, AIR 47, and Shubham Mutha, who bagged AIR 50.
At the CA foundation level, Laksh Surana bagged AIR 15.
In a rare feat after nearly a decade, an office-bearer of the Vadodara chapter of the Western India Chartered Accountants Students Association (WICASA) cleared the CA Final on the first attempt.
Preet Chandarana, who served as the vice chairperson of the Vadodara chapter last year, passed the exam in his first attempt. He was part of the award-winning WICASA team that earned national recognition as the best students' association, along with the title of second-best in the western region.
