Jaipur: In a remarkable feat, 71-year-old Tarachand Agarwal from Jaipur has successfully cleared the Chartered Accountancy (CA) final examination, proving that age is no obstacle to academic achievement.
Agarwal cracked one of India’s most challenging professional exams after retiring from the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (now SBI), where he served for 38 years before retiring as an Assistant General Manager in 2014, as reported by The New Indian Express on Sunday.
His name stood out on July 6, when the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) declared the results of the CA final exam. Among thousands of young aspirants, Agarwal’s accomplishment as a septuagenarian quickly gained attention and admiration.
Hailing from Sangaria in Hanumangarh district, Agarwal faced a personal setback in 2020 when he lost his wife, Darshana, during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We used to spend almost 21 hours a day together. When she left, I was completely shattered,” he expressed.
Struggling with grief and depression, he turned to spiritual reading to cope with the loss. It was during this period of introspection that a new idea emerged. Encouraged by his sons — Lalit, a chartered accountant, and Amit, a tax consultant — along with his granddaughter Ankika, Agarwal set his sights on the CA course.
He enrolled in the CA program in July 2021 and followed a strict daily routine that included early mornings, yoga, and 10 to 12 hours of study — four of which were dedicated to writing practice. Notably, he did not enrol in any paid coaching course. “The study material from ICAI is enough,” TNIE quoted him as saying.
He cleared the foundation exam in May 2022, the intermediate in January 2023, and sat for the final in May 2024. However, the last leg of his journey came with physical challenges: both of his shoulders developed a frozen condition, making it difficult to write. “My body was failing, but my spirit stayed strong,” he recalled.
In May 2025, he achieved what many thought impossible — passing the CA final at the age of 71. Photos of him holding his result sheet, beaming with pride, soon went viral on social media with the caption: “71-year-old uncle becomes a CA.”
Agarwal credits his success to the support of his family. His granddaughter Ankika, also preparing for the CA exams, shared study sessions with him. “We prepared together for the intermediate. Studying with him felt like learning with a friend,” TNIE quoted her as saying.
For Agarwal, this milestone is more than personal triumph — it’s a message of hope. “Most people believe life ends at retirement, especially after losing a partner. But I want to tell them that it’s never too late. You can still dream, learn and grow,” he shared.
As for what’s next, he’s leaving the door open. “If the younger ones in my family say, ‘Dada, try this,’ I will,” he said.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).