69th Foundation Day of the Enforcement Directorate:
The 69th Foundation Day of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), held in New Delhi, reaffirmed the agency’s pivotal role in combating economic offences and money laundering, as India strives toward the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Established on 1st May 1956, as the ‘Enforcement Unit’ under the Department of Economic Affairs to tackle violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1947, and renamed as the Enforcement Directorate in 1957. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.
Transferred to the Department of Revenue in 1960, the ED now functions under the Union Ministry of Finance, enforcing the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA), and civil provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED is headed by a Director (not below the rank of Additional Secretary, to the Government of India). Core functions of ED include curbing money laundering, financing of terrorism, and organised crime, ensuring economic security.
