Strong investigatory and enforcement agencies are essential elements of a robust governance ecosystem. They serve as the backbone of public trust in the financial and regulatory architecture of a country. When economic crimes, money-laundering, foreign-exchange violations or fugitive-offender schemes are detected and addressed swiftly, two key results follow: first, deterrence is reinforced; second, public resources and institutional integrity are preserved. In India, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has emerged over the past decade as a principal actor in tackling high-value economic offences. The following article reviews some of the biggest actions carried out by the ED in the past ten years, highlighting both the scale and significance of these operations.

Background of the Enforcement Directorate

The ED was originally formed in 1956. Over the years its mandate was expanded: driving enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) (from July 2005) and later the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018. As per ED data up to 31 March 2022, the value of assets provisionally attached under PMLA summed to around ₹1,04,702 crore. These numbers help illustrate the size of economic crime investigations and show the ED’s broad operational reach.

Major actions by the ED in the last decade

1. Large-scale asset attachments under PMLA

One of the most consequential sets of actions concerns the sheer volume of assets attached. For example, statistics show the ED issued about 1,919 Provisional Attachment Orders (PAOs) amounting to roughly ₹1,15,350 crore; of these, confirmation by adjudicating authorities stood at about ₹71,290 crore. This reflects the agency’s capacity to identify and freeze proceeds of crime in major cases.

2. High-profile corporate and banking fraud cases

The ED has intervened in major banking frauds and corporate scandal investigations. For example, a week’s press coverage noted that in 2024/25 an investigation into a real-estate scam led to provisional attachment of immovable assets worth around ₹2,348 crore. In another matter, the agency’s appeal succeeded in upholding seizure of assets linked to Chanda Kochhar in the Videocon-ICICI loan case, demonstrating its leverage in even corporate governance / banking regulation settings.

3. Major public-sector abuse and political-economy scandals

The ED has also had a central role in probing politically significant and large-scale public-sector malfeasance. For example, between the NDA government’s tenure commencing in 2014 and August 2022 the ED reportedly carried out more than 3,000 raids and attached proceeds of crime under PMLA amounting to nearly ₹99,356 crore. Such scale suggests systemic enforcement across sectors ranging from mining to public procurement to infrastructure.

4. Financial-market and exchange-control violations

The ED’s mandate under FEMA and broader foreign-exchange law enforcement has enabled it to probe sophisticated capital-market misconduct. For example, in 2024 the ED executed searches in the case of alleged front-running at a major mutual fund house, investigating alleged improper gains of ₹30.5 crore. These actions underscore that economic enforcement is no longer limited to classic money-laundering or bank-fraud models, but also covers layered and globalised capital-market offences.

5. Real estate & infrastructure fraud investigations

Another arena of strong ED action is real‐estate and infrastructure fraud, often combined with money-laundering streams. For example, in a housing-development society case, the ED attached 92 plots valued at approximately ₹100 crore as part of ongoing investigations. In another major case, 154 flats (and associated receivables) were attached in a housing-finance fraud linked to a ₹34,615 crore bank‐fraud allegation.

Why these actions matter

The importance of such interventions lies in several dimensions. First, enforcement credibility: when agencies can freeze or attach assets, it signals to would-be offenders that crime will not pay, or at least that ill-gotten gains can be clawed back. Second, public-resource protection: many of these cases concern bank defaults, diverted investment funds, or losses to depositors. Third, institutional rule-of-law: especially when dealing with cross-border assets, complex financial instruments, or politically sensitive cases, effective enforcement safeguards market integrity and fairness.

Operational and policy implications

From a policy-and-governance standpoint, the ED’s activities also raise lessons. For one, the large universe of cases means that only selective high-impact enforcement may be feasible, so prioritisation becomes key. The confirmation rate of PAOs indicates a need for strong adjudication and evidential frameworks. On the other hand, critics point to slow trial completion and relatively modest convictions vis–à-vis pending case volumes. Lastly, capacity-building, international cooperation (for asset-tracing abroad) and regulatory reforms remain important for ensuring future readiness.

Emerging enforcement trends

Several evolving features are visible. The enforcement lens is shifting more toward multi-jurisdictional money-laundering flows, foreign-exchange contraventions, shell-company networks, and real-estate/infrastructure nexus mechanisms. The integration of financial intelligence, forensic analysis and regulatory oversight is becoming more prominent. In many ways the ED's broader mandate under PMLA, FEMA and FEOA positions it at a central node in India’s fight against economic crime.

In sum, over the past decade the ED’s major actions have spanned large asset attachments, high-profile corporate and banking prosecutions, politically salient investigations and real-estate/investor-fraud enforcement. While challenges remain, the scale, reach and complexity of the agency’s work underscore its critical role in safeguarding India’s economic and regulatory architecture.