Careers360 Logo
ED Full Form

ED Full Form

Edited By Team Careers360 | Updated on May 25, 2023 11:02 AM IST

What is the full form of ED ?

The full form of ED is the Enforcement Directorate. ED is a body of economic intelligence that protects the country from financial crimes and puts economic laws into practice. ED is a division of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Revenue. 1956 saw the founding of ED. The corporate headquarters are in New Delhi. In addition, the ED maintains several regional offices in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, etc. It also has subzonal offices in a number of cities. Officers from the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Revenue Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Corporate Law Service make up this group.

ED of history

The Foreign Currency Regulation Act of 1947 (FERA, 1947), which was passed to prohibit the breach of exchange control legislation, authorized the creation of a "Enforcement Unit" under the direction of the Department of Economic Affairs on May 1, 1956.

In 1957, this organization's name was changed to the Enforcement Directorate, and a second branch was opened in Madras, Tamil Nadu.

Principal goals of ED

  • The FEMA 1999 (Foreign Exchange Management Act) and the PMLA 2002 (Money Laundering Prevention Act) are two important Indian government laws that the ED primarily aims to enforce. The ED's official website lists several other targets that are specifically related to combating money laundering in India.

  • It is an investigative body in particular, and it is against GOI norms to release all material into the public realm.

Organizational structure

The Director of Enforcement is in charge of the Directorate of Enforcement, which has its main office in New Delhi. The Special Directors of Enforcement are in charge of five regional offices, which are located in Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, and Delhi.

The Directorate's zonal offices, which are situated in Pune, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Panaji, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, and Srinagar, are overseen by a Joint Director.

The Directorate's sub-zonal offices in Mangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Kozhikode, Indore, Madurai, Nagpur, Allahabad, Raipur, Dehradun, Ranchi, Surat, Shimla, Visakhapatnam, and Jammu are overseen by a Deputy Director.

Operations of ED

  • To acquire, develop, and spread information on FEMA violations in 1999, intelligence reports are given from a variety of sources, such as state and intelligence departments, complaints, etc.

  • Investigating alleged violations of the 1999 FEMA regulations, including activities like hawala foreign currency racketeering, failure to realize export revenues, failure to repatriate proceeds from overseas commerce, and other FEMA infractions in 1999.

  • handling the adjudication of old FERA 1973 and FEMA 1999 infractions.

  • to execute the penalty imposed during the adjudication procedure.

  • Appeals, appeals, and legal actions are handled in accordance with the previous FERA 1973 policy.

  • to conduct inquiries, scouts, audits, convictions, legal actions, etc. against PMLA suspects.

Functions of ED

  • The intelligence inputs are obtained from a variety of sources, including central and state intelligence agencies, complaints, etc., in order to gather, produce, and distribute intelligence relevant to violations of FEMA, 1999.

  • To look into any violations of the FEMA’s, 1999 regulations pertaining to things like "hawala" foreign currency racketeering, failure to realize export revenues, failure to repatriate foreign cash, and other kinds of infractions.

  • To determine if breaches of the former FERA (1973) and FEMA (1999) have occurred.

  • To understand the consequences of the adjudication processes' penalties.

  • To manage prosecution, appeals, and adjudication proceedings under the former FERA, 1973

  • Process cases for preventative custody under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act and make recommendations for their imprisonment (COFEPOSA).

  • To conduct an investigation, search, seizure, arrest, prosecution, etc. against a PMLA offender.

  • To give and request reciprocal legal help from other contracting nations with regard to the attachment or confiscation of criminal proceeds as well as the transfer of accused individuals under the PMLA.

The ED's actions

  • The Enforcement Directorate's operations and working methods are:

  • To gather, establish, and spread information on FEMA violations, 1999, reports from the ED intelligence organization are given to a variety of sources, including intelligence departments and states, complaints, etc.

  • Cases involving breaches of the earlier FEMA (1999) and FERA (1973) were handled by ED.

  • The ED investigated alleged FEMA 1999 rule breaches, including non-realization of export revenues, hawala currency racking, FEMA 1999 violations, and various types of non-repatriation of foreign commerce, among other things.

  • The suspects are the subject of an ED investigation, sentence, trial, search, and other activities by PML.

  • Under pre-FERA 1973 law, the ED is in charge of managing appeals and legal actions.

  • For the purpose of eliminating illegal activity and transferring accused criminals in accordance with PML A, the ED offers and receives collaborative legal support from the contracting states.

  • investigates issues relating to currency.

  • The purchase of any property overseas is likewise looked at by the ED.

What are the rights of ED?

  • The ED Enforcement Directorate can address the country's financial illicit activity.

  • Under the two Acts, FERA 1973 and FEMA 1999, the Enforcement Directorate has the authority to undertake any type of financial investigation into the Indian government.

  • The Enforcement Directorate is authorized to take action against any property overseas in order to prevent.

  • Additionally, the ED Enforcement Directorate has the authority to object to searches, seizures, and arrests of those who are thought to be involved in money laundering.

  • In addition, the Enforcement Directorate has been given complete discretion by the government to handle Foreign Exchange Act offenses.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What does ED stand for in its entirety?

"Directorate of Enforcement" or " Directorate General of Economic Enforcement" is the full name of ED.

2. In money laundering, what does ED mean?

In India, the ED Enforcement Directorate looks into financial issues such as cases of money laundering.

3. What are the two economic laws on which ED bases its operations on?

There are two of them:

1 - Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 and Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2002 (FEMA)

2 - The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (PMLA).

4. What does an ED do?

The Enforcement Directorate, sometimes known as ED, serves as both an organisation for economic intelligence and a law enforcement body.

Enforcement Directorate, India's intelligence service, is in charge of upholding economic rules and preventing economic crime.

The Department of Revenue, which is a division of the Ministry of Finance of India, houses the Enforcement Directorate as well.

5. Who has more clout: CBI or ED?

The Enforcement Directorate primarily handles money laundering cases and investigations in India, whereas the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the major investigation police agency in India.

Back to top