CS Executive Syllabus 2022: The Seven Papers and the Two Groups

The CS Executive Programme is the middle stage of the Company Secretary course run by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), between the entrance test (CSEET) and the Professional Programme. Since 1 February 2023 it follows Syllabus 2022: seven papers split into Group 1 (four papers) and Group 2 (three papers). You can sit one group or both in a session, and you pass group by group. This guide lists the papers with their codes and December 2026 dates, explains what the group split means in practice, maps the old 2017 papers for students who switched over, and shows which edition of the study material applies. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI); every rule below is quoted or summarised from ICSI's published documents, and ICSI decides every individual case.

ICSI student services FAQ and December 2026 time table.

ICSI numbers the papers 1 to 7 and gives each a paper code (521 to 527). The code is what appears on the admit card and in the exemption documents, so it is worth knowing both.

Two things stand out in the calendar. The groups alternate: Group 1 sits on 21, 23, 26 and 28 December and Group 2 on 22, 24 and 27 December. So a student sitting both groups writes on seven of the eight days from 21 to 28 December, with only Christmas Day free, which is a tougher run than either group alone. A student sitting only Group 1 gets at least one free day between papers.

The group is the unit of passing. You pass a group when you score at least 40% in each of its papers and 50% in the aggregate of that group, at one sitting (the full rules, including the two 60% provisos, are in our passing-marks guide). A pass in Group 1 is kept while you attempt Group 2, and the other way round. You complete the Executive stage when both groups are passed.

Which group to take first is a judgement, not a rule. Our reading of the numbers: Group 1 has had the lower pass percentage in every Syllabus 2022 session so far (the full series is in our pass-percentage guide). Group 1 also carries four papers against Group 2's three, and includes both Company Law & Practice and Corporate Accounting & Financial Management. A student who can sit both groups gains the option of the single-sitting pass (40 in each, 50 overall across all seven), but the aggregate is then computed over seven papers, not four or three.

The last Executive examination under Syllabus 2017 was held in December 2024. From June 2025 onwards the Executive examination runs under Syllabus 2022 only (ICSI student services FAQ). Students who had passed or been exempted in 2017 papers get corresponding exemptions in the 2022 papers after switching over:

ICSI publishes, for each session, the date up to which the study material has been updated. For December 2026 (notice dated 28.07.2026):

The ICSI Executive Programme study-material page also lists a separate Tax Laws & Practice book "for June 2027 exam onwards". We found no ICSI notice explaining what changes in that edition or confirming whether it reflects the new Income-tax law. What we can say from the two ICSI documents is only this: December 2026 uses the Tax material updated to 31 May 2025, and a new edition is marked for June 2027. If you will sit Paper 7 in June 2027 or later, follow that edition and ICSI's supplements, not an older book.

You will read on coaching sites that each paper carries 100 marks, that the stage totals 700 marks, and that some papers are part objective. We looked for these in the ICSI documents for Syllabus 2022 (the time table, the qualifying-marks document, the FAQ, the course slides and the study-material notice) and did not find a per-paper maximum or any objective share printed in them. The only ICSI notice we found about OMR (objective) papers at the Executive stage concerns Syllabus 2017. The pass rules themselves are stated in percentages, so nothing on this page depends on the maximum.