"I am of the view that SMPs have a place and important role in India. In the diamond jubilee year, we will do everything possible to strengthen the SMPs, which will in turn help the SMEs. The institute will take the initiative of developing practice tools (software etc) for SMPs," Mr Ved Jain, President of ICAI, told a press conference today.

Of the 1,45,000 members of ICAI, about 45,000 come under the category of small and medium practice units.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will inaugurate the ICAI's Diamond Jubilee year celebrations here on July 1. The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, will deliver a special address on the same day, he said.

On the issue of mutual recognition of qualifications with other countries, Mr Jain expressed confidence that memorandum of understanding (MoUs) would be signed with regulatory bodies of 2-3 countries during the diamond jubilee year.

"There are reasonable possibilities that with 2-3 countries we will be in a position and those countries that matter most we will be in a position to achieve this in diamond jubilee year," he said, but declined to name the countries.