'Irreparable loss for all of us,' says EY India on death of 26-year-old CA

In a letter to EY India Chairman Anna Sebastian Perayil's mother said her daughter passed away due to excessive workload

The death of 26-year-old Chartered Accountant Anna Sebastian Perayil is "tragic" and an "irreparable loss" for EY India, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. They added that the consultancy has provided "all the assistance" to the family.

Perayil's death was brought to light after a letter by her mother, Anita Augustine, to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani went viral on the internet.

In the letter, Augustine wrote that Perayil passed away after the company "burdened her with backbreaking work". While she did not mention the exact reason of Anna's death, sources suggest she passed away due to a cardiac arrest. 

The mother also alleged that no one from the company attended her funeral.

 

"Anna would return to her room utterly exhausted, sometimes collapsing on the bed without even changing her clothes, only to be bombarded with messages asking for more reports. She was putting in her best efforts, working very hard to meet the deadlines," Augustine wrote in the letter.

"She was a fighter to the core, not someone to give up easily. We told her to quit, but she wanted to learn and gain new exposure. However, the overwhelming pressure proved too much even for her," she added.

In the statement, EY India said that Anna was a part of the audit team at SR Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune. She joined the firm on March 18, 2024. According to her mother's letter, she passed away on July 20.

The Big Four firm said they were "deeply saddened by Anna Sebastian's tragic and untimely passing in July 2024" and extended "our deepest condolences to the bereaved family".

"That her promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us," the statement read.

"While no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so," it added.

"We are taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 people across EY member firms in India," the statement further said.

In recent months, several cases of employees complaining about high work pressure have emerged across top consultancies and investment banks globally.

A report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and the Boston Consulting Group, released earlier this month, pointed out that 58 per cent of Indians experience burnout and workplace exhaustion, much higher than the global average of 48 per cent.

A similar incident took place in February this year, when Saurabh Kumar Laddha, a 25-year-old consultant at McKinsey & Company, died by suicide reportedly due to work pressure.

"We have also come across a few messages in which he is talking about work pressure," said the police.

Earlier, in January, the former head of recruitment at Goldman Sachs sued the investment bank for over 1 million pounds, alleging that they demanded he work "unreasonable and excessive hours", which led to "physical and psychiatric injuries" and "wanting to take his own life".

In the viral letter, Anna's mother wrote that she wished she had been able to protect her, to tell her that her health and well-being mattered more than anything else.

"But it is too late for my Anna," the letter read.