Aspiring chartered accountants (CAs) from the city had a reason to celebrate with two students clearing the final exams and securing ranks among the first 50 toppers at the national level. One student, who appeared for the Common Proficiency Test (CPT), not only passed the test in first attempt, but got a place in top 10 rankers in the country.

The overall performance of the students in CA exams from Vadodara's branch of Western India Regional Council (WIRC) of ICAI was also good.

Siddhant Mehta got the highest marks in the city with 471 marks in the final exams in new course and secured 21st rank at the all-India level with Disha Patel coming in second in the city and securing 50th rank at all-India level. Krupali Upadhyaya, who cleared the CPT with 184 marks in first attempt, stood seventh in India.

Patel has already completed her MCom from M S University and is the first person to enrol for CA programme in her family. "I was confident of clearing the exams, but getting 50th rank was something I had not hoped for," said Patel, who got 441 marks in her final exams. She also aspires to get an MBA degree in future with specialisation in finance.

Upadhyaya, too, is the first from her family to opt for CA. "My father is an engineer, but since school days I dreamt of becoming a CA. Thankfully, I never faced resistance from the family when I opted to take up commerce stream. Now, that I have cleared the CPT in one go, I will give in my best in main exams as well," Upadhyaya said.

"The overall pass percent of CA final exams at all India level for new course has been 5.56 per cent, while the city pass percent is 10 per cent. Even for the old course, the country's overall percentage is 3.64, while our branch is 4 per cent," said vice-chairman Baroda Branch of WIRC of ICAI Manilal Parsiya.

"For CPT, all India performance is 27.55 per cent in comparison to that our branch's result is 28 per cent. This year, overall results of our branch is better when compared to all India's figures," Parsiya added.