Even as the churn at professional advisory firms continues, PricewaterhouseCoopers India, the countrys largest in this space, has again seen at least three partners leave the firm to pursue growth opportunities elsewhere.

Consulting and accounting major PwC, which recently saw the exit of 17 partners, has however been on an aggressive recruitment spree as a recovering economy prompts companies to increase mandates to consulting firms for advice on future transactions, say people familiar with the development.

PwC partners Ravi Bhamidipati, Sanjay Kapadia and Partha Banerjee are the latest to have put in their papers, two months after a large group of employees from the firms tax practice resigned to follow their division head at rival firm KPMG. A PwC spokesperson confirmed the exits, adding that they were spread over five months.

Mr Bhamidipati came on board after PwC acquired ECS, formerly Eicher Consulting, in December 2008, in a transaction aimed at developing PwCs consulting business. The consulting division currently contributes about half of PwCs total revenue.

Mr Kapadia, who has left PwC to join Ernst & Young, is a chartered accountant and a law graduate with wide experience in tax, transfer pricing, restructuring and regulatory issues. He has also been actively involved in advising clients on direct tax, transfer pricing strategies and exchange control matters.

The third partner, Mr Banerjee, was part of PwCs performance improvement unit. The advisory practice of the firm has four strategic business units consulting/performance improvement, corporate finance, internal audit and government and infrastructure practice.

Being the leading professional services firm of the country, it is natural for opportunities to be presented to our team. At the same time, to meet our growth requirements, it is equally natural for bright talent to join us, which has happened at all levels, including at the level of executive directors. Currently, over a 100 executive directors look after our tax and advisory services, said the spokesperson.

PwC, which lost about 250 people in the past few months, has already hired more than 600 people. InFebruary, about 200 employees of PwC India quit the firm along with Dinesh Kanabar, after he stepped down as tax head of PwC to join rival firm KPMG as deputy CEO.

Earlier Amrish Shah, a specialist on transaction tax, and Prasad Paranjpe (indirect tax) had quit PwC to join E&Y. Mr Shah was also advising on divestments, mergers and demergers and on corporate restructuring. Prasad Paranjpe is a law graduate with 20 years of experience in advising clients on indirect taxes and litigation.