Cases registered by Enforcement Directorate under PMLA rose to a four-year high in 2025-26

The rate of convictions remained slow, with the agency securing convictions only in 43 cases in the last five years.

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 4, 2026 06:09 PM IST

ED: The number of prosecution cases were the lowest in three years at 432 in 2025-26 as against 611 in 2024-25, 502 in 2023-24 and 387 in 2022-23.

The number of prosecution cases were the lowest in three years at 432 in 2025-26 as against 611 in 2024-25, 502 in 2023-24 and 387 in 2022-23. (File Photo)

The cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the country’s anti-money laundering law increased to a four-year high of 1,080 in the financial year 2025-26, taking the total cases to 4,622 in the last five years. The conviction rate, however, remained low with the agency securing conviction only in 0.93% or 43 cases during 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The financial investigation and law enforcement agency had seen a decline in the number of cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) from 2021-22 to 2023-24, before picking up again in 2024-25 and 2025-26, data presented by the government in Parliament on Tuesday showed.

In response to a written question by CPI(M)’s V Sivadasan in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the ED has filed prosecution complaints in 2,444 cases under the PMLA provisions before the Special Courts, PMLA as on June 30 this year. “These cases are at various stages of trial. The ED has arrested 1,243 accused under the provisions of the PMLA,” the minister said. On the question regarding the number of undertrial prisoners, the minister said: “the data regarding under trial prisoners, currently in jail, some of which are arrested by a predicate agency, is not centrally maintained”.

The agency had registered 1,116 cases in 2021-22, which then declined to 953 in 2022-23, and then to 698 cases in 2023-24, before picking up again to 775 cases in 2024-25 and 1,080 in 2025-26. In total, the ED has registered 4,622 cases under PMLA in the last five years, the data showed.

The rate of convictions was slow, with the agency securing convictions only in 43 cases in the last five years — 9 each in 2025-26 and 2024-25, 13 in 2023-24, 9 in 2022-23 and 3 in 2021-22. Of the total 43 cases which saw convictions between FY22-FY26, the number of persons accused convicted in these cases stood at 104. The highest number of accused convicted over the last five years was in 2024-25 at 38, followed by 24 in 2022-23, and 19 each in 2023-24 and 2025-26.

Income Tax Department cases

A total of 2,127 prosecution cases were filed by the Income Tax Department over the last five years (2021-22 to 2025-26). The number of prosecution cases were the lowest in three years at 432 in 2025-26 as against 611 in 2024-25, 502 in 2023-24 and 387 in 2022-23. In income tax matters, prosecution complaints are filed only after obtaining sanction from the competent authority under section 279(1) of the Income-tax Act, upon completion of investigation and recording of relevant facts, the minister said.

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Detailed breakup showed that the Income Tax Department was able to secure conviction in just 233 cases over the last five years, with the convictions being the lowest in two years at 47 in 2025-26. The rate of acquittals was high, with a total of 854 cases seeing acquittals over the last five years, with the acquittals in 2025-26 rising to a four-year high of 293. The Finance Ministry, however, said the number of prosecution cases filed and the figures relating to conviction or acquittal are not directly correlated, as convictions or acquittals may pertain to cases filed in different years.

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Financial Year	Prosecution cases filed by Income Tax Department	Cases registered by ED under PMLA
2021-22	195	1,116
2022-23	387	953
2023-24	502	698
2024-25	611	775
2025-26	432	1,080
Total	2,127	4,622

Convictions secured by ED under PMLA

Financial Year	No. of cases wherein convictions secured	No. of accused convicted
2021-22	3	4
2022-23	9	24
2023-24	13	19
2024-25	9	38
2025-26	9	19
Total	43	104

Prosecutions by Income Tax Department

Financial Year	No. of cases convicted	No. of cases acquitted
2021-22	11	47
2022-23	69	130
2023-24	35	183
2024-25	71	201
2025-26	47	293
Total	233	854

Aanchal Magazine

Aanchal Magazine is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express, serving as a leading voice on the macroeconomy and fiscal policy. With 15 years of newsroom experience, she is recognized for her ability to decode complex economic data and government policy for a wider audience. Expertise & Focus Areas: Magazine’s reporting is rooted in "fiscal arithmetic" and economic science. Her work provides critical insights into the financial health of the nation, focusing on: Macroeconomic Policy: Detailed tracking of GDP growth, inflation trends, and central bank policy actions. Fiscal Metrics: Analysis of taxation, revenue collection, and government spending. Labour & Society: Reporting on labour trends and the intersection of economic policy with employment. Her expertise lies in interpreting high-frequency economic indicators to explain the broader trajectory of the Indian economy. Personal Interests: Beyond the world of finance and statistics, Aanchal maintains a deep personal interest in the history of her homeland, Kashmir. In her spare time, she reads extensively about the region's culture and traditions and works to map the complex journeys of displacement associated with it. Find all stories by Aanchal Magazine here ... Read More

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