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Only 18.93 per cent of candidates cleared the CA Foundation exam held in September 2026, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said when it declared results on 6 November. Of the 1,04,240 candidates its results table shows as having appeared, 19,736 passed, which leaves more than 84,000 who will have to try again.

Hands working through accounting papers in a ring binder next to a calculator

The September numbers

The Foundation exam is the entry point to the chartered accountancy course, and ICAI now runs it three times a year. The September 2026 papers were held on 2, 5, 7 and 9 September. According to ICAI’s results announcement, 19,736 of 1,04,240 candidates passed, a pass rate of 18.93 per cent.

The institute’s press release puts the number of candidates at 1,17,458 across 580 centres, a higher figure than the 1,04,240 shown in its results table. The table count is the one ICAI uses to work out the pass percentage, so that is the figure used here.

Three sessions, one pattern

September was the weakest of the three Foundation sessions held in 2026. ICAI figures reported by the Free Press Journal show 19.23 per cent passed in January (21,099 of 1,09,694) and 20.09 per cent in May (18,124 of 90,217).

More people sat the September exam than the May one, about 14,000 more by our count, so the number of people who passed still went up by around 1,600 even though the pass rate dropped. Taken together, the three 2026 sessions saw 3,04,151 appearances and 58,959 passes, which works out to about 19.4 per cent. Those are attempts rather than individual students, since many candidates sit the exam more than once.

Women fell further behind

The gender gap grew in September. Men passed at 20.47 per cent (10,931 of 53,398), while women passed at 17.32 per cent (8,805 of 50,842). That is a gap of about 3.2 percentage points, by our count.

Earlier in the year the gap was much smaller:

January 2026: men 20.13 per cent, women 18.26 per cent (about 1.9 points apart)
May 2026: men 20.88 per cent, women 19.24 per cent (about 1.6 points apart)
September 2026: men 20.47 per cent, women 17.32 per cent (about 3.2 points apart)

Women made up close to half of September’s candidates but about 45 per cent of those who passed. The published data doesn’t explain why the gap widened, and one session is too few to call it a trend.

What it takes to pass

To clear Foundation, a candidate needs at least 40 per cent in each paper and 50 per cent overall, Careers360 reported. So a strong total does not help a candidate who scores below 40 in any one paper.

At the top of the list, Kansika from Hisar and Mahek Gupta from Hyderabad shared All India Rank 1 with 361 marks out of 400 (90.25 per cent), according to ICAI’s merit list. Vaibhavi Singhal from Gwalior was ranked third with 358. ICAI President CA Prasanna Kumar D said in the institute’s announcement: “Your success reflects your hard work, perseverance and the invaluable guidance of your parents and teachers.”

Candidates can check their scorecards on caresults.icai.org using their registration and roll numbers. The scorecard gives marks for each paper, so students who failed can see whether one paper or their overall score held them back.

What to watch

The next Foundation exam is in January 2027, on 3, 5, 7 and 9 January, according to Careers360. Students who did not pass in September can sit that session. With only about eight weeks to go, it will mostly be a re-attempt for students who already know which paper let them down.

There are three things to watch for when the January 2027 results come out. First, whether the pass rate stays around 19 to 20 per cent, as it did in all three 2026 sessions. Second, whether the gap between men and women goes back to under 2 points or stays near 3. Third, whether ICAI’s press release and results table start reporting the same candidate count. For anyone planning to start CA, the 2026 numbers are a useful benchmark: roughly one in five attempts at Foundation succeeds.