CS Professional guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers
Company Secretary Professional Programme — the qualifying stage of the CS qualification. Conducted by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), a statutory body under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980. Suresh knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.
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Carries the marks · ESG — Principles and PracticeBoard Governance, Committees and Business EthicsMarks ~48 Open the chapter
The paper · CS Professional300 marksNo negative marking
Suresh“Before we plan anything: when do you sit CS Professional, and how many hours a day do you really have?”
Talk TypeEnd & get my plan06:12
Ends in a plan
Stages
4
First paper
300 marks
Marking
No negative marking
Your guide
Suresh, free
How it's decided
CS Professional, stage by stage
Twice a year — June and December sessions, the same sitting windows as CS Executive. Pen-and-paper at ICSI examination centres. Every paper is wholly descriptive, three hours for 100 marks; the two elective papers are open-book.
Group 1 — ESG, Drafting Pleadings & Appearances, Compliance Management Audit & Due Diligence, plus an Elective 1 paperFour papers, 400 marks (three modelled on this hub)
The group most candidates attempt first. All papers are wholly descriptive; the elective is open-book.
Group 2 — Strategic Management & Corporate Finance, Corporate Restructuring Valuation & Insolvency, plus an Elective 2 paperThree papers, 300 marks (two modelled on this hub)
The group that completes the level. Both groups may be attempted together or one at a time, in either order.
Practical training and Professional Development ProgrammeContinues from Executive-level registration
The 21-month practical training begun at Executive level can run alongside Professional study. A shorter Professional Development Programme follows clearing Professional.
ICSI membershipAdmission as a Company Secretary
Passing both Professional groups, plus completed training, admits a candidate to ICSI membership and the right to practise, including conducting secretarial audits and appearing before the NCLT/NCLAT.
The papers
2 papers, and how each is marked
Group 1 — ESG, Drafting Pleadings & Appearances, Compliance Management Audit & Due Diligence, plus an Elective 1 paper
300 marks3 hours per paperNo negative marking
The group most candidates attempt first
Marking: Not applicable — no objective component
Wholly descriptive — parts of 5 or 10 marks, case studies up to 15
Paper 1 — ESG: Principles and Practice100 marks · 180 minPaper 2 — Drafting, Pleadings and Appearances100 marks · 180 minPaper 3 — Compliance Management, Audit and Due Diligence100 marks · 180 min
This group's official total is 400 marks across four papers; this hub models the three compulsory papers (300 marks) and excludes the Elective 1 paper, chosen at enrolment from a fixed list.
Group 2 — Strategic Management & Corporate Finance, Corporate Restructuring Valuation & Insolvency, plus an Elective 2 paper
200 marks3 hours per paperNo negative marking
The group that completes the level
Marking: Not applicable — no objective component
Wholly descriptive — parts of 5 or 10 marks, case studies up to 15
Paper 5 — Strategic Management and Corporate Finance100 marks · 180 minPaper 6 — Corporate Restructuring, Valuation and Insolvency100 marks · 180 min
This group's official total is 300 marks across three papers; this hub models the two compulsory papers (200 marks) and excludes the Elective 2 paper, chosen at enrolment from a fixed list.
Where the marks come from
Where CS Professional's marks come from
Seven papers of 100 marks under Syllabus 2022, arranged in two groups — Group 1 has four papers (three compulsory plus one elective), Group 2 has three (two compulsory plus one elective).
ESG — Principles and Practice100 marks · 20%
Group 1. Board governance and committees share the paper with CSR, stakeholder engagement and sustainability/BRSR reporting — the fastest-moving content on this hub, with live 2025-2026 regulatory changes on both halves.
Drafting, Pleadings and Appearances100 marks · 20%
Group 1. Drafting deeds, agreements and corporate documents shares the paper with pleadings and appearances before the NCLT and NCLAT — a genuinely new practical-skill paper on this hub, with no CA/CMA equivalent.
Compliance Management, Audit and Due Diligence100 marks · 20%
Group 1. Secretarial audit under Section 204 shares the paper with due diligence practice for securities issues, mergers and banking transactions — the paper closest to a practising Company Secretary's specialist certification work.
Strategic Management and Corporate Finance100 marks · 20%
Group 2. Strategic management aliases from CA Intermediate's own Strategic Management chapters; corporate finance — sources of long-term finance, project appraisal, treasury and risk management — is new, final-level content.
Corporate Restructuring, Valuation and Insolvency100 marks · 20%
Group 2. Mergers, valuation and takeovers alias from CA Final's Advanced Financial Management; the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code — the largest genuinely new topic in this cluster — has no CA/CMA equivalent anywhere on this hub.
What changed this cycle
Things last year's advice gets wrong
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act No.
A separate Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — introduced March 2026, reported by a Joint Parliamentary Committee in August 2026 but not yet passed into law as of this content's last review — proposes raising Section 135's CSR net-profit trigger from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 10 crore. This hub teaches the current, still-applicable Rs.
SEBI's BRSR Core assurance glide path now covers the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation from FY 2026-27 — the widest tier of the phase-in is live for the current financial year, not merely announced.
SEBI's LODR Regulations tightened the Nomination and Remuneration Committee's independence requirement from one-half to two-thirds independent directors with effect from 1 January 2022, and a Fifth Amendment notified 19 November 2025 revised related-party-transaction materiality and reporting rules further — confirm the current numeric RPT materiality threshold against SEBI's own text before citing a specific figure.
The chapters that carry the marks
Where a plan for CS Professional usually starts
The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.
The ICAI, ICMAI and ICSI papers: presentation marks, revision cycles and the exemption maths. Pick one to start, or just talk — Suresh has read your profile either way.
1. Group 1 — ESG, Drafting Pleadings & Appearances, Compliance Management Audit & Due Diligence, plus an Elective 1 paper — Four papers, 400 marks (three modelled on this hub). 2. Group 2 — Strategic Management & Corporate Finance, Corporate Restructuring Valuation & Insolvency, plus an Elective 2 paper — Three papers, 300 marks (two modelled on this hub). 3. Practical training and Professional Development Programme — Continues from Executive-level registration. 4. ICSI membership — Admission as a Company Secretary.
How is the CS Professional paper marked?
Group 1 — ESG, Drafting Pleadings & Appearances, Compliance Management Audit & Due Diligence, plus an Elective 1 paper: 300 marks, 3 hours per paper. Marking: Not applicable — no objective component
Is there negative marking in CS Professional?
No. Not applicable — no objective component
What decides the final merit in CS Professional?
Seven papers of 100 marks under Syllabus 2022, arranged in two groups — Group 1 has four papers (three compulsory plus one elective), Group 2 has three (two compulsory plus one elective).
What has changed in CS Professional recently?
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act No. 6 of 2026, most provisions notified with effect from 26 May 2026) added a new Chapter IV-A — the Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP), Sections 58A-58K — an out-of-court-initiated, debtor-in-possession track that financial creditors holding 51% or more of financial debt can start after 30 days' notice, running alongside (not replacing) the classical CIRP this hub teaches as the baseline process.
What does the CS Professional guide know about me?
Only what you have done on the site: your scores by subject and chapter for CS Professional, what you have never been tested on, the kinds of mistake you make across topics, your mocks, your projected score, your error book, your last two weeks and your goals. You can open the exact page Suresh reads before you start.
Is it free?
Talking to Suresh, the AI guide, is free — up to four talks a day. Real guides who have cleared or teach CS Professional set their own prices, and many offer a free call or a short demo.
Every fact on this page comes from the exam's blueprint on this site. How the guide uses it: how Guidance works.
