India Financial Crime Intelligence Report

Executive Summary

India's financial crime enforcement landscape saw record-breaking activity in FY2025-26 (April 2025 to March 2026). The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 81,422 crore, a 171% jump from the previous year, while conducting the highest number of searches in its history at 2,892 (Tribune India, 2 May 2026). Cumulative attachments since inception reached Rs 2,36,016.61 crore as on 31 March 2026 (ED Statistics Page).

Restitution to victims more than doubled to Rs 32,678 crore, led by the PACL restitution programme which alone returned Rs 15,582 crore in March 2026 and a further Rs 9,420.57 crore in June 2026, making it the largest restitution in Indian enforcement history (ED Press Release, 30 March 2026).

However, the conviction gap remains stark. Only 60 trials have been completed against 8,851 ECIRs (Enforcement Case Information Reports) recorded since the PMLA's inception. This means roughly 99.3% of PMLA cases have never reached a completed trial. The 93.33% conviction rate applies only to the tiny fraction of cases that actually finish (ED Statistics Page).

On the cryptocurrency front, global illicit crypto flows reached USD 158 billion in 2025 according to TRM Labs (TRM Labs 2026 Crypto Crime Report). In H1 2026, a record 207 hacks stole USD 972 million, with North Korea-linked activity accounting for about 66% of losses (TRM Labs, 1 July 2026). India has 54 registered VDA (Virtual Digital Asset) Service Providers with FIU-IND as on 9 March 2026 (Lok Sabha Reply, 30 March 2026).

The 10th NCORD meeting on 26 June 2026 made a structural change: ED-led financial investigation is now mandatory in all major NDPS (narcotics) cases (PIB, 26 June 2026). This will materially expand ED's narcotics caseload from FY2027.

India secured its first-ever FATF Vice-Presidency with Shri Vivek Aggarwal elected for the July 2026 to June 2027 term (PIB, 19 June 2026).

Key Numbers at a Glance

India's AML and Financial Crime Enforcement Architecture

India's anti-money laundering (AML) system involves 13 primary agencies working under different legal frameworks. This section explains what each agency does and provides their latest performance data.

What is money laundering? Money laundering is the process of making illegally earned money appear legal. It typically involves three steps: placement (putting dirty money into the financial system), layering (moving it around to hide its source), and integration (bringing it back as apparently clean funds). India's primary anti-money laundering law is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Enforcement Directorate (ED)

The ED is the primary agency for PMLA enforcement. It operates under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

What does ED do? The ED investigates money laundering cases, attaches properties bought with crime proceeds, prosecutes offenders, and restores money to victims. It also enforces the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA).

FY2025-26 Performance (from ED Annual Report, released 1 May 2026 on ED's 70th Foundation Day):

Sources: Tribune India, 2 May 2026; The Hindu BusinessLine, 2 May 2026

Key shift: ED's approach has moved from arrest-led to asset-led enforcement. Arrests fell 27% while attachment value and searches hit record highs. ED Director Rahul Navin stated on 1 May 2026 that cryptocurrency fraud, terror financing, cyber-enabled crime and narcotics money laundering are the agency's new priority areas (Telangana Today, 1 May 2026). He also noted that bank-fraud and real-estate-fraud caseloads are declining because of the IBC and RERA frameworks.

Cumulative PMLA Statistics as on 31 March 2026:

Source: ED Statistics Page, dated 31.03.2026

Conviction rate discrepancy explained: The 93.33% conviction rate measures convictions as a share of completed trials (56 convictions out of 60 completed trials). However, if you measure convictions against total prosecution complaints filed (56 convictions out of 2,396 chargesheets), the rate is only about 2.33% (The Tribune via DailyHunt, 1 May 2026). Both are mathematically correct but measure different things. The original report's 94.82% figure was the position as on 31 December 2025 (ABP Live, Feb 2026). The official ED statistics page now shows 93.33% as on 31 March 2026, a slight decline because 4 acquittals were recorded in Q4 FY26. ED Director Rahul Navin continues to publicly cite "94%" (Telangana Today, 1 May 2026).

Bank fraud sub-portfolio: ED has investigated 1,105 bank fraud cases under PMLA, attaching proceeds of crime of Rs 64,920 crore, with 150 arrests, 277 prosecution complaints, 8 accused declared FEOs, and 3 convictions. Assets worth Rs 15,186 crore were confiscated, of which Rs 15,183 crore was restituted to public sector banks. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman disclosed this in Lok Sabha on 31 March 2026 (ET CFO, 31 March 2026).

FEMA (cumulative as on 31 March 2026): 44,369 investigations initiated, 19,385 disposed, 9,347 show-cause notices issued, 7,588 adjudicated (81.18% disposal rate). FEMA penalties in FY2025-26: Rs 2,051.27 crore, down from Rs 5,238 crore in FY2024-25 (ED Performance Report 2025-26).

FEOA (cumulative): Action initiated against 54 persons, 21 declared Fugitive Economic Offenders, Rs 2,178.34 crore confiscated (ED Statistics Page).

Mutual Legal Assistance backlog: 353 outgoing MLAT/Letters Rogatory pending. The largest backlogs are with UAE (69), Singapore (55), UK (39), Hong Kong (36), USA (26), Switzerland (23), and Mauritius (15). There are 246 incoming requests, with UK (79), Singapore (33), and USA (32) leading (Tribune India, 2 May 2026).

Financial Intelligence Unit - India (FIU-IND)

What does FIU-IND do? FIU-IND is India's central agency for receiving, processing, analysing, and disseminating financial intelligence. It receives Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) from banks, financial institutions, and now from VDA Service Providers. It is the nodal agency for India's AML/CFT compliance with FATF standards.

VDA Service Provider registrations: 54 VDA Service Providers are registered with FIU-IND as on 9 March 2026. Registered entities include CoinDCX (Neblio Technologies), Unocoin, Giottus, Bitbns, ZebPay, WazirX (Zanmai Labs), CoinSwitch, Mudrex, BuyUcoin, Suncrypto, Onmeta, and Singapore-based Digital Collectibles Pte Ltd. FIU-IND also directed the takedown of apps and URLs of 53 illegal (unregistered) VDA Service Providers. The AML/CFT Guidelines for VDA SPs were updated on 8 January 2026 (Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5805, answered 30 March 2026).

Registration trajectory: 49 (March 2025), then approximately 52 (February 2026), then 54 (9 March 2026). No figure later than 9 March 2026 has been located.

Compliance and penalties (disclosed to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, reported May 2026):

Source: Economic Times, May 2026

The Rs 29 crore penalty figure is cumulative across four offshore providers and is not a new 2026 action. No fresh 2026 monetary penalty on a named exchange has been verified.

STR volumes for FY2025-26: NOT PUBLISHED. The most recent FIU-IND Annual Report on fiuindia.gov.in is for 2024-25. The figure of 11,720 crypto STRs covers April to November 2025 and remains the latest available. No updated STR count has been found.

Enhanced KYC from 8 January 2026: Amended AML/CFT guidelines now require at onboarding: a selfie with liveness detection, latitude and longitude of the onboarding location, date and timestamp, the client's IP address, and a mandatory Rs 1 bank transaction (Upstox summary, 6 February 2026).

Binance Travel Rule: Binance implemented full Travel Rule counterparty reporting for Indian users from 22 June 2026, with no minimum transaction threshold, stricter than the FATF USD 1,000 benchmark. Withdrawals require recipient name, country, city, and receiving exchange. Deposits require sender name, PAN or national ID, address, and postcode (Aiying Compliance analysis).

OTC reporting demand: Following a meeting with exchange operators at the end of May 2026, FIU-IND asked at least three major crypto exchanges for records of OTC transactions exceeding USD 10,000 (approximately Rs 9.44 lakh), covering activity back to January 2026 (KuCoin News).

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)

What does NCB do? The NCB is India's central agency for drug law enforcement under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. It coordinates with state police, international agencies, and other central agencies on drug trafficking, and now feeds cases to ED for financial investigation.

CY2025 Performance (Year-End Press Release, 7 January 2026):

Source: NCB Year-End Press Release, 7 January 2026

Q1 2026 conviction data: NCB secured 73 convictions in 35 cases in the first three months of 2026, with Rs 1.22 crore in fines. The conviction rate series as given by PIB is: 60.5% (2024), 65.5% (2025), 68.6% (Q1 2026). Four accused received the maximum 20-year sentence, and 54 received 10 years or more (PIB, 20 April 2026).

NCB conviction rate discrepancy: The NCB year-end press release gives 2024 = 60.8% and 2025 = 66.8%, while the April 2026 PIB release gives 2024 = 60.5% and 2025 = 65.5%. Both are official Government of India sources. The gap is unexplained. This report cites the range and notes the inconsistency rather than picking one figure.

Major 2026 operations:

• Operation WHITE STRIKE (1 May 2026): 349 kg high-grade cocaine worth Rs 1,745 crore seized in the Mumbai region. This is one of the largest cocaine seizures in Indian history (The Week, 1 May 2026).
• Operation RAGEPILL (16 May 2026): India's first-ever Captagon seizure, worth Rs 182 crore. Captagon is a stimulant pill widely associated with conflict zones in the Middle East (Business Standard, 16 May 2026).
• 28 April 2026: NCB secured the return of Mohammad Salim Dola from Turkiye. Dola is a notorious drug trafficker linked to the mephedrone syndicate (NCB press release index).
• 8 March 2026: Pan-India darknet drug network "Team Kalki" busted. LSD, MDMA, and liquid MDMA seized (same index).
• 26 April 2026: "Operation WIPE" launched against online drug trafficking networks (same index).

10th Apex NCORD Meeting (26 June 2026): Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired this meeting which released the Vision Document on Drug Control (2026 to 2029), built on a "Detect, Disrupt, Destroy" strategy. The meeting also released the NCB Annual Report 2025 and announced an Online Drugs Disposal Fortnight to destroy 2,09,500 kg of drugs worth approximately Rs 6,000 crore. Cumulative seizures from 2014 to 2026 were reported at Rs 1,84,000 crore across 1.18 crore kg in 8,75,000 cases with 10,97,000 arrests. The most important structural decision: ED-led financial investigation is now mandatory in all major NDPS cases (PIB, 26 June 2026).

NCB Annual Report 2025 key findings (New Indian Express, 28 June 2026):

• Pharmaceutical drugs accounted for roughly 75% of NCB's 2025 seizures.
• All-DLEA (drug law enforcement agencies) pharma seizures: 2,37,390 kg in 2025 vs 2,43,111 kg in 2024.
• 305 drone incidents on the Indo-Pak border in 2025, a 100-fold increase over 2021.
• 110 darknet cases between 2021 and 2025. Cryptocurrency was used for darknet settlement.
• 42,282 acres of illicit opium destroyed in 2025 versus 10,000 acres in 2020.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)

What does DRI do? DRI is the apex anti-smuggling agency of India under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). It investigates customs fraud, gold and narcotics smuggling, trade-based money laundering, and commercial frauds.

DRI Smuggling in India Report 2025-26: NOT YET PUBLISHED. The DRI publications page still lists "Smuggling in India Report 2024-25" as the latest edition. The 2025-26 edition is expected around November 2026 (DRI Publications).

The DRI's 2024-25 report (released December 2025) made a key finding: stablecoins, especially USDT, are increasingly replacing traditional hawala networks for settling drug and gold smuggling transactions. DRI called for expanded blockchain forensics capability (Economic Times, December 2025).

DRI 2026 operations:

• March 2026: Organised gold smuggling and illegal melting racket in Delhi and Kolkata dismantled. Gold, silver, and cash worth Rs 14.13 crore seized, six arrests. Also, Operation White Hammer raided an illegal Alprazolam factory in Andhra Pradesh, seizing 237 kg drugs worth Rs 47 crore plus 3.5 tonnes of chemicals, two arrests (DRI News Updates).
• 30 June 2026: Delhi-based trans-border syndicate dismantled. 15 kg of Thai-origin gold worth approximately Rs 21.40 crore seized, concealed in gear parts, with four arrests. Cryptocurrency was used to transfer money across borders to finance the smuggling (Republic World, 30 June 2026).
• 18 July 2026: 15 kg gold plus 20 kg silver (approximately Rs 22 crore) and Rs 2.20 crore cash seized. 13 arrests (PIB, 18 July 2026).
• 22 to 27 July 2026: More than 27 kg of foreign-origin gold seized and 12 persons arrested across Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, Cochin, and Guwahati. This included 12 kg concealed in the rear-lavatory ceiling panels of an aircraft from Addis Ababa (BusinessWorld, 27 July 2026).
• Approximately 1 August 2026: 20 persons arrested including 5 foreign nationals. A joint DRI-BSF action recovered 3.2 kg at the Indo-Bangladesh border (PIB).

National Investigation Agency (NIA)

What does NIA do? The NIA is India's central counter-terrorism agency, established under the NIA Act 2008. It investigates terror-related cases including terror financing, narco-terrorism, and cyber-terrorism.

Key 2026 NIA actions related to financial crime:

• 13 May 2026: Iqbal Singh alias Shera arrested after extradition from Portugal in a Hizbul Mujahideen narco-terror financing case (New Indian Express).
• 25 May 2026: Searches at three locations in Kashmir in the Jamaat-e-Islami terror-funding case (The Hindu BusinessLine).
• June 2026: Property of a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative in Punjab attached in a narco-terror case (The News Mill).
• 16 July 2026: NIA court to frame charges against 10 in the J&K narco-terror syndicate case (The Hindu).
• 7 July 2026: Searches in 3 north Indian states in the Cambodia-linked human trafficking and cyber-slavery case (NIA press releases).
• 14 July 2026: NIA Special Court sentenced the key accused in the Bengaluru Al-Hind ISIS terror conspiracy case (same index).

No consolidated NIA FY26 terror-financing statistics (case counts, attachment values) were published. This is a data gap.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

What does CBI do? The CBI is India's premier investigating agency for corruption, major frauds, and economic crimes. It works with state police and international agencies.

Key 2026 CBI bank fraud cases:

Sources: ANI; LiveLaw, 6 Aug 2026

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

What does SEBI do? SEBI regulates the securities markets in India. It investigates insider trading, market manipulation, front-running, fraudulent and unfair trade practices, and financial statement fraud.

SEBI Annual Report 2025-26 (published 6 August 2026):

Sources: SEBI Annual Report 2025-26, Chapter 10; ET Legal, 6 Aug 2026; Livemint, 6 Aug 2026

The enforcement-to-recovery gap is the standout finding: Rs 35.5 crore in penalties levied and Rs 340.8 crore recovered against Rs 32,400.6 crore of live recovery certificates. Settlement collections collapsed 86% from Rs 798.9 crore to Rs 109.8 crore.

Jane Street v. SEBI: SEBI alleged Rs 36,502 crore (approximately USD 4.3 billion) in profits across 18 expiry days between January 2023 and March 2025. Jane Street deposited Rs 4,843.5 crore and told SAT in April 2026 that it had stopped trading in India due to regulatory uncertainty (Moneycontrol, 22 April 2026). SAT was scheduled to hear the appeal on 31 July 2026. The outcome of this hearing could NOT be verified from any source as of 9 August 2026. The case must be reported as pending before SAT.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

What does RBI do? The RBI is India's central bank. It regulates banks, manages monetary policy, issues currency, and oversees payment systems. On the AML front, it supervises banks' KYC compliance, fraud reporting, and digital payment security.

Bank frauds FY2025-26 (RBI Annual Report, 29 May 2026): Amount involved rose 46% to Rs 48,021 crore (FY25: Rs 32,803 crore) while the number of cases fell from 23,722 to 10,114. This means fraud is concentrating into fewer, larger advances-side events. PSBs accounted for Rs 35,709 crore and private banks for Rs 11,399 crore. Advances-category frauds were Rs 40,774 crore across 8,640 cases. Card and digital-payment fraud value collapsed to Rs 29 crore (293 cases) from Rs 517 crore (13,332 cases) in FY25. RBI is exploring a "switch on / switch off" and "kill switch" facility for digital payments (Indian Express, 29 May 2026).

MuleHunter.AI: Now onboarded by 29 banks. Seven banks have piloted the Digital Payments Intelligence Platform. An I4C-RBIH MoU on MuleHunter.AI was signed on 12 May 2026 (Informist Media, 28 July 2026; New Indian Express, 12 May 2026).

e-Rupee (CBDC) update: Retail e-Rupee circulation fell to Rs 771.66 crore as on 31 March 2026, down from Rs 1,016.46 crore a year earlier. This is a reversal of the CBDC growth narrative. However, RBI has extended programmable CBDC to PDS food-subsidy delivery in Gujarat, Puducherry, and Chandigarh, and signed a digital-assets MoU with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Business Standard, 29 May 2026).

IDPIC (India Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation): A new institution established as a Section 8 not-for-profit company under the Companies Act, 2013. Promoted by SBI and Bank of Baroda, approved by RBI in January 2026. It will provide real-time fraud intelligence and alerts to banks and FIs using AI, ML, and big-data analytics. FM Sitharaman confirmed its establishment in a Rajya Sabha reply in late July 2026 (ET BFSI, 29 July 2026; AMLEGALS, 31 July 2026).

Banking-sector fraud, 5-year data (21 July 2026, Rajya Sabha): Rs 1,42,112 crore reported by commercial banks and AIFIs over five years. Rs 6,389 crore recovered in fraud-classified accounts. As on 31 March 2026, recovery suits were filed against 15,577 wilful defaulters. SARFAESI action in 10,894 cases, FIRs in 7,173 cases. Aggregate recovery from wilful defaulters by PSBs: Rs 52,360 crore. Complaints against bank recovery agents more than doubled to 18,021 in FY26 from 8,623 (Economic Times, 21 July 2026).

CBDT / Income Tax Department

What does CBDT do? The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) oversees direct tax administration including income tax, corporate tax, and the Black Money Act. It is increasingly involved in crypto tax enforcement through TDS and reporting rules.

Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act:

• Tax imposed: Rs 4,009.64 crore in FY2025-26 (to 31 December 2025); FY25: Rs 4,556.64 crore; FY24: Rs 949.51 crore
• Three-year total collection: Rs 9,515.79 crore
• 1,368 assessments completed to 31 December 2025, raising demand of Rs 41,257.08 crore
• 167 prosecution complaints filed
• Rs 14,636 crore assessed from Panama, Paradise, and Pandora Papers leaks
• A NUDGE compliance campaign led 1.57 lakh taxpayers to revise returns, declaring Rs 99,882 crore of foreign assets and Rs 6,540 crore of foreign income

Source: Business Standard, 23 March 2026; The Tribune, 24 March 2026

VDA / crypto reporting:

• CBDT released a 198-page guidance note on crypto-exchange reporting under Section 285BAA, effective 1 April 2026. Tax rates remain unchanged: 30% flat under Section 115BBH and 1% TDS under Section 194S. From 1 April 2026, exchanges must report every user transaction to the I-T Department. Penalties: Rs 200/day per unreported transaction up to Rs 50,000 per failure. From 5 March 2026, India extended financial-account reporting rules to crypto-assets, CBDCs, and certain e-money products (Mint, July 2026).
• CBDT flagged Rs 888.82 crore of undisclosed VDA income in search-and-survey actions (Moneycontrol).

VDA TDS collection, verified. Parliament data reported in December 2025 gives VDA TDS of Rs 221.27 crore (FY23), Rs 362.70 crore (FY24), and Rs 511.83 crore (FY25), totalling Rs 1,095.80 crore over three years (Business Today, 9 December 2025). Higher figures circulate for FY2024-25 VDA TDS and are not supported by any official source. Rs 511.83 crore is the figure to use.

VDA TDS for FY2025-26: NOT FOUND. No rupee figure has been published for the latest fiscal year.

Prosecutions: The I-T Department filed 2,127 prosecution cases over five years, of which 432 in FY26. It secured 47 convictions in FY26 against 293 acquittals (The Wire, 5 August 2026).

DGGI / GST Intelligence

What does DGGI do? The Directorate General of GST Intelligence investigates GST evasion, especially fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims. ITC fraud is a key proxy for trade-based money laundering (TBML) in India.

Fake ITC fraud FY2025-26:

State concentration in FY26: Maharashtra 9,629 cases (Rs 18,320 crore); Gujarat 12,511 cases (Rs 12,633 crore). Sectors span iron and steel, textiles, plastics, paper, plywood, cement, copper, works contract, manpower supply, and real estate services (Economic Times, 28 July 2026).

FY26 ITC-fraud detection nearly doubled in value and doubled in case count year on year, the sharpest proportional rise of any agency in this scorecard. CBIC attributes detection gains to AI risk-scoring (ADVAIT, BIFA), GSTR-2B matching, biometric Aadhaar authentication, and geo-tagging.

Total GST evasion across all heads for FY2025-26: NOT FOUND. Only the ITC-fraud subset is confirmed.

BSF / Border Security

BSF Punjab seized 331 kg of heroin in Q1 2026 alone, against 414 kg for all of 2025 and 283 kg in 2024. 47 drones were neutralised in Q1 2026 against 272 for all of 2025. Also recovered: 5.5 kg ICE, 10.50 kg opium, 58 weapons, and 654 rounds. 110 Indian smugglers arrested. Drops are GPS-programmed and made at night (The Tribune, 12 April 2026).

No consolidated BSF FY26 seizure statistics were published. Only isolated incidents and one joint DRI-BSF action were found.

Cryptocurrency Financial Crime

What is cryptocurrency crime? Cryptocurrency crime involves using digital assets like Bitcoin, USDT (Tether), and other tokens for illegal purposes. This includes hacking exchanges and DeFi protocols to steal funds, using crypto for money laundering, financing terrorism, purchasing drugs on darknet markets, evading taxes, and running Ponzi schemes through fake crypto investment platforms. Stablecoins like USDT are particularly attractive to criminals because they maintain a stable value tied to the US dollar while offering the speed and pseudonymity of blockchain transfers.

Global Crypto Crime: 2025 Baseline and 2026 Updates

TRM Labs 2026 Crypto Crime Report (published 28 January 2026, covering 2025 data):

• USD 158 billion in incoming illicit value in 2025, up approximately 145% from USD 64.5 billion in 2024
• Illicit share of attributed on-chain volume: 1.2% in 2025
• Sanctioned-entity and jurisdiction inflows: USD 93 billion in 2025. Stablecoins made up about 95% of sanctioned inflows.
• A7A5-associated inflows: USD 72 billion
• USD 2.87 billion stolen across approximately 150 hacks in 2025. Bybit hack of USD 1.46 billion was 51% of stolen funds.
• Chinese-language escrow and money-laundering networks processed more than USD 100 billion in 2025

Source: TRM Labs 2026 Crypto Crime Report

Chainalysis 2026 Crypto Crime Report (covering 2025 data):

• At least USD 154 billion received by illicit addresses in 2025, up 162% year on year
• Sanctioned entities grew 694%. Stablecoins were 84% of illicit transaction volume.
• DPRK (North Korea) stole approximately USD 2 billion
• A7A5 processed more than USD 93.3 billion in under a year

Source: Chainalysis

TRM Labs H1 2026 Hacks Report (published 1 July 2026):

• 207 hacks in H1 2026, a record count
• USD 972 million stolen, versus 83 hacks and USD 2.3 billion in H1 2025
• Median hack: USD 219,000. Mean hack: USD 4.7 million. Many more, much smaller incidents.
• 125 of 207 incidents were smart-contract exploits
• Largest incidents: KelpDAO approximately USD 292 million (April 2026) and Drift Protocol approximately USD 285 million
• DPRK-linked activity: approximately USD 643 million, about 66% of H1 losses
• Infrastructure and operational compromises were about 15% of incidents but about 76% of value lost
• Wrench (physical coercion) attacks tracked at USD 24 million

Source: TRM Labs, 1 July 2026

No H1/mid-year 2026 aggregate illicit-flow update has been published. The USD 158 billion figure for 2025 remains the latest available annual total. TRM published no half-year successor.

Shelbit: Iran's USD 6.3 Billion Crypto Settlement Layer

On 7 August 2026, TRM Labs and OFAC revealed the Shelbit case, one of the most significant Iran-linked crypto enforcement actions of the period.

Key findings:

• Dubai-registered, unlicensed exchange Shelbit moved more than USD 6.3 billion between May 2024 and March 2026 (23 months)
• About 88% (approximately USD 5.56 billion) of this volume ran on TRON
• Average transfer: approximately USD 54,500
• Exposure included: IRGC approximately USD 5.6 million across 36 transfers, Hamas-designated wallets approximately USD 2 million, A7 approximately USD 318 million, 55 gambling platforms approximately USD 72.6 million
• Peak month: approximately USD 735 million (November 2025)
• OFAC designated Shelbit, founder Siavash Kayvanpour, and affiliated UAE, Poland, and Georgia entities on 7 August 2026 under E.O. 13224
• Dubai's VARA issued a cease-and-desist to Shelbit on 24 July 2026

Source: TRM Labs, 7 August 2026; Bloomberg, 7 August 2026

T3 Financial Crime Unit

The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a joint initiative by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, has frozen more than USD 450 million in illicit crypto since September 2024 (milestone announced 14 May 2026). This is a 50% increase from the USD 300 million reported in October 2025. T3 operates across 23 jurisdictions on 5 continents, with freezes typically executed within 24 hours (Tether, 14 May 2026).

Tether Freezes

• USD 4.2 billion frozen cumulatively as of 27 February 2026, of which USD 3.5 billion since 2023, against more than USD 180 billion USDT in circulation (Reuters, 27 February 2026).
• 23 April 2026: Tether froze USD 344 million across two Central Bank of Iran-linked addresses, its largest single action. Cumulative statistics: cooperation with more than 340 law-enforcement agencies in 65 countries, more than 2,300 cases, more than USD 4.4 billion frozen globally, of which more than USD 2.1 billion tied to US authorities (Tether, 23 April 2026).

USDT on TRON

USDT on TRON exceeded USD 90 billion in supply as of 10 July 2026, with approximately USD 4.2 trillion year-to-date transfer volume, 12.7 million daily transactions, USD 23.8 billion average daily USDT transfers, and 392 million accounts (GlobeNewswire / TRON DAO, 10 July 2026).

The Shelbit case confirms the illicit relevance: approximately 88% of USD 6.3 billion in Iran-linked settlement flows ran on TRON.

MiCA Implementation in the EU

Grandfathering under Article 143(3) ended 1 July 2026. TRM's post-mortem (7 August 2026) found 1,343 operating EEA crypto service providers, of which only 281 (roughly one in five) obtained MiCAR CASP authorisation. 1,062 firms did not and must exit, restructure, or transfer customers. 12% of unauthorised firms carry a High or Severe TRM risk rating versus 2% of authorised firms. EU-27 users received USD 459 billion in crypto value in 2025, of which TRM identified approximately USD 152 million as illicit (TRM Labs, 7 August 2026).

FATF Virtual Asset Compliance

The FATF 7th Targeted Update on Virtual Assets and VASPs was published 16 July 2026 (data as of April 2026). Of 149 jurisdictions assessed, only 1 was fully compliant with Recommendation 15. 34% were largely compliant, 43% partially compliant, and 22% non-compliant. 73% of jurisdictions require VASP licensing, but only 58% had licensed one. FATF flagged rising illicit stablecoin use and criminal networks building freeze-resistant proprietary stablecoins (Reuters, 16 July 2026).

Chainalysis Additional Findings

Money laundering networks: Chinese money-laundering networks handled approximately 20% of illicit funds in 2025: USD 16.1 billion in inflows. The wider on-chain laundering ecosystem exceeded USD 82 billion in 2025 (versus approximately USD 10 billion in 2020) (Chainalysis; Reuters, 27 January 2026).

Scams and pig butchering: USD 17 billion stolen through scams and fraud in 2025. Average scam payment was USD 2,764, up 253%. Impersonation scams rose 1,400% (Chainalysis scams chapter).

Scam-centre crackdown (23 April 2026): The DOJ Scam Center Strike Force restrained USD 701.9 million in crypto. 503 domains seized under Operation Level Up. OFAC designated 29 Cambodia-linked targets. FBI IC3 reported USD 7.2 billion in 2025 US crypto investment-scam losses (Chainalysis, 23 April 2026).

Ransomware: More than USD 820 million in on-chain ransom payments in 2025, down about 8% year on year. Median ransom: USD 59,556, up 368%. Victim count rose 50% while only about 28% paid. Up to 85 active groups (Chainalysis, ~26 February 2026).

Wrench attacks (6 August 2026): More than USD 30 million stolen in violent physical attacks so far in 2026. 46 incidents through late June 2026. France is the leading hotspot. Only 26% produced a payment, down from 49% in 2025 (Chainalysis, 6 August 2026; The Block, 6 August 2026).

Sanctions: Sanctioned entities received USD 104 billion in 2025, up 694%. The Iranian ecosystem exceeded USD 7.78 billion, with IRGC-linked flows exceeding USD 3 billion (Chainalysis sanctions chapter).

Russia / A7A5 and Sanctions Actions

• EU 20th package (April 2026): A7A5 had processed USD 119.7 billion to date. The package bans the Russian digital ruble from 24 May, imposes a sectoral ban on Russian CASPs, and designates TengriCoin and Meer.kg. Grinex halted operations in April 2026 (Chainalysis).
• UK FCDO (May 2026): 18 entities sanctioned including HTX/Huobi. The A7 network is assessed to have moved USD 90 billion into Russia's economy (Chainalysis).
• EU 21st package (24 July 2026): Transaction bans extended to 14 crypto platforms in Georgia, Panama, UAE, Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. The targeted A7 network is put at approximately USD 120 billion (CoinDesk, 24 July 2026).

India: ED Crypto Enforcement

ED cumulative crypto attachments, verified. The Parliament reply of 5 February 2026 gives Rs 4,209.74 crore of proceeds attached, seized, or frozen in crypto-related PMLA matters, with 29 arrests, 24 prosecution complaints, and 1 person declared a fugitive economic offender (Business Today, 5 February 2026). Rounded figures near Rs 4,190 crore circulate for the same metric; Rs 4,209.74 crore is the Parliament figure.

No updated cumulative figure after 5 February 2026 has been located.

2026 ED crypto case actions:

Sources: ED Press Releases; ET Legal, 15 May 2026; ET Crypto, 17 June 2026; New Indian Express, 1 August 2026

BitBNS reversal: On 15 May 2026, the Appellate Tribunal (SAFEMA) quashed ED's Rs 29.28 crore provisional attachment against BitBNS / Buy Hatke. This is the most significant crypto-specific reversal of the period (ET Legal, 15 May 2026).

India: Crypto Policy and Legislative Direction

India's cryptocurrency policy remains fundamentally unresolved as of August 2026. The formal position is that VDAs are "unregulated" and oversight runs through FIU-IND under PMLA plus tax enforcement. However, several developments in 2026 have shaped the policy debate:

• Discussion paper shelved (April 2026): India's crypto policy discussion paper was shelved indefinitely amid RBI resistance (Moneycontrol, 1 April 2026).
• RBI prohibition stance (July 2026): Internal documents show the RBI reasserting a policy "leaning towards prohibition" and seeking to bar banks from crypto and stablecoin exposure. The same reporting cites approximately 39 million Indian crypto traders holding about USD 2.1 billion as at end-May 2026 (Reuters, 8 July 2026).
• Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, 36th Report (23 July 2026): Recommended an interim SRO-based framework and clearer VDA classification under the proposed Securities Markets Code, 2025. The Committee recommended that VDAs NOT be brought within the SMC at this stage (Moneycontrol; Business Standard, 23 July 2026).
• Asset Tokenisation (Regulation) Bill, 2026: Introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Raghav Chadha in Rajya Sabha. Penalties up to 10 years and Rs 25 crore (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas).
• CARF implementation: CBDT issued a 198-page guidance note (July 2026) implementing the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework under Section 509 of the Income-tax Act 2025. India's first CARF data exchange begins 1 April 2027 (Business Today, 30 July 2026).
• Privacy coin restriction (January 2026): FIU directed reporting entities to refrain from permitting deposits or withdrawals of anonymity-enhancing crypto tokens. Mudrex delisted ZEC, DASH, and PIVX from 30 January 2026. However, on 10 March 2026, FIU clarified that it had issued no official order requiring exchanges to delist privacy coins. Source: Coin Gabbar, 12 March 2026. Reliability caveat: This is a secondary crypto-media report attributing the clarification to Bitinning. No primary FIU-IND circular confirming the clarification was located. Treat the "no formal ban" position as reported but unconfirmed.

India: Crypto Market Size and User Base

There is no single authoritative Indian crypto user count. Estimates range widely:

• 39 million traders holding about USD 2.1 billion (Reuters, citing RBI and tax-department documents, 8 July 2026)
• 119 million+ crypto owners (Analytics Insight Indian Cryptocurrency Investment Report 2026, covering through Q1 2026, as summarised by Times Now. Reliability caveat: This is a private-vendor estimate.)

Both figures should be presented with their provenance. The difference likely reflects different definitions (active traders versus total owners).

India ranked first in the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index for a third consecutive year, leading all four sub-indices. India contributed approximately USD 338 billion in on-chain value received (Chainalysis 2025 Global Adoption Index).

Offshore leakage: About 72.66% of India's FY25 crypto trading volume occurred on offshore exchanges, roughly Rs 37,240 crore offshore against only Rs 14,012 crore onshore (Analytics Insight, 1 May 2026, citing KoinX). Reliability note: This is a private-vendor estimate.

Courts on Crypto

• Madras High Court recognised cryptocurrency as "property" on 30 July 2026, with implications for arbitration, asset protection, and cross-border restructuring (Wolters Kluwer Arbitration Blog).
• The Appellate Tribunal quashed ED's Rs 29 crore attachment against BitBNS (see above).

Hawala and Underground Banking

What is hawala? Hawala is an informal value transfer system that operates outside traditional banking channels. A person in one country gives money to a hawala broker (hawaladar), who instructs a counterpart in another country to pay an equivalent amount to the intended recipient. No physical money crosses borders. The system relies on trust and family or community networks. Hawala itself is not illegal in India under PMLA if properly reported, but unlicensed hawala operations and use of hawala for money laundering, terror financing, or tax evasion are crimes.

Stablecoins Displacing Classical Hawala

The DRI's "Smuggling in India Report 2024-25" (released December 2025, still the latest edition) records that stablecoins such as USDT are increasingly replacing traditional hawala networks for settling drug and gold smuggling transactions. DRI called for expanded blockchain forensics capability (Economic Times, December 2025).

This is a critical trend: crypto settlement is faster, cheaper, and harder to trace than classical hawala, especially using USDT on TRON where the Shelbit case showed 88% of Iran-linked flows ran on TRON.

ED Crypto-Hawala Enforcement in 2026

Nihal V.N. case (23 July 2026) - the flagship narco-finance case of the period: ED Panaji arrested Nihal V.N., an ordinary resident of Dubai, described as "a primary financial node and money launderer for international drug lords operating across multiple continents." ED itself titled the case a crackdown on a "Crypto-Hawala and International Narcotics Money Laundering Syndicate." Narcotics cash proceeds were converted to crypto and foreign exchange, then routed to suppliers in Brazil and Thailand to procure high-grade narcotics and synthetic drugs for smuggling into India. Multiple illicit crypto wallets, offshore bank accounts, and domestic shell entities were identified. Searches covered 26 premises across Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, and Delhi. Main accused Madhupan SS was arrested on 17 January 2026. The case follows the Home Minister's 26 June 2026 NCORD "Detect, Disrupt, Destroy" roadmap (ED Press Release, 23 July 2026; New Indian Express, 23 July 2026).

This is the clearest documented instance of the narcotics to hawala to crypto to offshore procurement typology in the period.

Afghan talc-heroin case (24 June 2026): ED arrested Delhi businessman Harpreet Singh Talwar. NIA has filed six chargesheets alleging a syndicate run out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Dubai with ISI involvement. Rs 74 crore of narcotics proceeds were moved through hawala channels to Afghanistan and used to fund terrorist activities. Talwar's own proceeds of crime were put at Rs 1.65 crore (Moneycontrol, 27 June 2026).

Rs 16,000 crore foreign remittance and hawala case (June 2026): PMLA court extended ED custody of businessman Jitendra Pandey to 4 July 2026. Allegations include USD 5.8 million moved via hawala, Rs 11 crore paid to real-estate agents, and 21 properties attached (Free Press Journal, 30 June 2026).

Bank-loan-fraud hawala layering (24 July 2026): ED Lucknow searched eight premises in UP, Delhi, and Punjab in a Rs 450 crore bank loan fraud (Santosh Overseas Ltd). Proceeds were layered through shell companies and "accommodation entry operators (hawala dealers)" using fictitious invoices and circular transactions (The Hindu, 24 July 2026).

"Digital Hawala": Mule Accounts and Crypto Layering

Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir have frozen over 8,000 mule accounts across three years, describing a "digital hawala" pattern in which funds are layered through mule accounts and then converted into untraceable cryptocurrency, with terror-funding concerns (New Indian Express, 16 February 2026).

Hawala-GST Convergence

Two 2026 cases show hawala settlement networks and fake-ITC rings sharing infrastructure:

• Rs 24 crore hawala-GST racket in Bareilly, two arrested (January 2026) (The Hindu).
• Rs 146 crore multi-state hawala-GST racket, mastermind arrested and 68 bank accounts under scrutiny (8 May 2026) (StudyCafe). Reliability note: secondary source.

Gujarat "Dirty Crypto" Terror Financing Network

The Gujarat Centre of Excellence for Cybercrime made 12 arrests by 6 June 2026, tracing approximately USD 23.96 million (Rs 226.54 crore), of which 30 to 40% was assessed as illicit, with links to Hamas, Houthi, IRGC-QF, and Garantex. Two Monero wallets holding approximately Rs 2 crore were identified. Source: The Crypto Times, 6 June 2026. Reliability caveat: This is a secondary crypto-media report and could not be independently confirmed from an official agency release.

Narcotics-Linked Financial Crime

Why is narcotics-linked financial crime important? Drug trafficking generates massive illicit profits that need to be laundered. The flow of drug money corrupts financial systems, finances terrorism, and destabilises economies. In India, narcotics-linked money laundering operates through multiple corridors: the Indo-Pak border (heroin via Punjab), the Indo-Myanmar border (methamphetamine via the Northeast), and the Andean corridor (cocaine from South America).

Indo-Myanmar Corridor

What is the Indo-Myanmar corridor? The border between India and Myanmar, particularly through Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland, is a major route for methamphetamine trafficking. Myanmar has dramatically increased opium production, rising from 420 tonnes in 2021 to over 1,000 tonnes in 2025 (UN News, 26 June 2026).

UNODC Synthetic Drugs Report (12 June 2026): Regional methamphetamine seizures reached 349 tonnes in 2025, up 48% year on year and five times the level of a decade ago. Ketamine seizures were 52.5 tonnes, up 185%. Thailand alone accounted for 159 tonnes. A record 16 methamphetamine labs were seized in northern Shan State in January. UNODC describes a "deepening convergence" of drug trafficking, the scam-compound industry, and money laundering (CNA, 12 June 2026).

ED Aizawl action (8 to 9 June 2026): Searches near the India-Myanmar border (Mizoram) and India-Bangladesh border (Tripura). Proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 142 crore identified. Methamphetamine sourced from Myanmar via the Champhai/Zokhawthar sector for delivery into Tripura. Layering through Myanmar-resident bank accounts with border addresses, shell entities, cash, and hawala channels. One account showed over Rs 33 crore of suspect credits. Predicate: NCB Agartala Case 07/2025 (49.101 kg methamphetamine tablets and 40 g heroin, 8 arrests on 21 August 2025) (ED Press Release, 9 June 2026).

NCB dismantles Myanmar-based syndicate (July 2026): Kingpin Nengzatuan alias Tuanpi of Chin State, Myanmar, arrested in Churachandpur, Manipur. Principal accused in three NCB cases involving approximately 28.22 kg methamphetamine tablets and 1.278 kg heroin valued over Rs 25 crore. The syndicate overall is linked to proceeds of crime collectively valued over Rs 53 crore (Organiser, 24 July 2026).

Narco-hawala banking footprint (context, November 2025): ED's first-ever searches along the Champhai stretch of the India-Myanmar border found bank deposits totalling Rs 52.8 crore linked to narco-hawala operators, with cash deposits across Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, West Bengal, Tripura, and Delhi (Economic Times, 27 November 2025).

Indo-Pak Corridor

BSF Punjab seized 331 kg of heroin in Q1 2026 alone, against 414 kg for all of 2025 and 283 kg in 2024. 47 drones were neutralised in Q1 2026 against 272 for all of 2025. Drops are GPS-programmed and made at night (The Tribune, 12 April 2026).

Narco-Terror Financing

The NIA is charging 10 of 16 accused in a Jammu and Kashmir narco-terror syndicate case, alleging that drug-trafficking profits funded terrorism through an LeT-linked network (The Hindu, 16 July 2026).

The Afghan talc-heroin case establishes Rs 74 crore in hawala transfers to Afghanistan explicitly used to fund terrorist activity (Moneycontrol, 27 June 2026).

CJNG-India Link

Following the killing of CJNG leader "El Mencho" on 22 February 2026, reporting on the cartel's India footprint describes a methamphetamine lab at Kasna, Greater Noida, with 95.501 kg of methamphetamine recovered. The settlement chain involved cartel funds moving from Mexico to Dubai via cryptocurrency, conversion to cash, and delivery to New Delhi by hawala operators in three instalments. Property worth Rs 9.20 crore was attached under SAFEMA/NDPS. Source: Times Now, 26 February 2026. Reliability caveat: This is a media reconstruction, not an official agency publication. Treat as reported but unconfirmed from primary sources.

Other ED Narcotics Actions

• 26 May 2026: Raids in Chennai and Ramanathapuram in the Tamil Nadu-Sri Lanka drug trafficking case. John Britto named key accused (Organiser).
• 9 June 2026: ED Aizawl action against cross-border methamphetamine syndicate. Proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 142 crore. Predicate NCB Agartala case 07/2025 (49.101 kg meth) (ED Press Release).
• 29 to 31 July 2026: ED Bengaluru searches in Hyderabad and Chennai into clandestine ketamine manufacture and trafficking. Rs 82.82 lakh in Indian currency and USD 18,000 seized (ED Press Release index).

All-DLEA National Seizure Series (Trend Context)

Source: PIB, 20 November 2025

Cross-Border Fund Movement and FEMA

What is FEMA? The Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, governs all foreign exchange transactions in India. Unlike PMLA (which is criminal), FEMA is civil in nature. ED enforces both PMLA and FEMA. FEMA violations typically involve illegal foreign remittances, hawala transactions, undisclosed foreign assets, and violations of foreign investment rules.

FEMA Performance Update

Cumulative FEMA investigations as on 31 March 2026: 44,369 initiated (up from 33,988 in the original report), of which 19,385 disposed, 9,347 show-cause notices issued, and 7,588 adjudicated (81.18% disposal rate) (ED Statistics Page).

FEMA penalties FY2025-26: Rs 2,051.27 crore, down from Rs 5,238 crore in FY2024-25 (ED Performance Report 2025-26).

FEMA investigations initiated during FY2025-26 alone: 4,308, against 2,631 in FY2024-25, a 64% jump (ED Performance Report 2025-26).

Black Money Act and Offshore Leaks

What is the Black Money Act? The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, specifically targets undisclosed foreign income and assets. It imposes a flat 30% tax plus penalties, with criminal prosecution for wilful evasion.

• 1,368 assessments completed to 31 December 2025
• Rs 41,257.08 crore in total tax-and-penalty demands raised
• Rs 9,515.79 crore collected over three years (FY23: Rs 949.51 crore, FY24: Rs 4,556.64 crore, FY25: Rs 4,009.64 crore)
• 167 prosecution complaints filed
• Rs 14,636 crore assessed from Panama, Paradise, and Pandora Papers leaks
• 69 dedicated officers in Foreign Asset Investigation Units
• A NUDGE compliance campaign led 1.57 lakh taxpayers to revise returns, declaring Rs 99,882 crore of foreign assets and Rs 6,540 crore of foreign income

Source: Business Standard, 23 March 2026; The Tribune, 24 March 2026

Swiss Bank Deposits

Per Swiss National Bank annual data published 18 June 2026, total Indian-linked funds in Swiss banks fell to CHF 3.25 billion in 2025, down 8% from CHF 3.5 billion in 2024, roughly Rs 36,793 crore. Within that, customer deposits rose 50% to CHF 524 million, while amounts due to banks fell 15% to CHF 2.6 billion. India moved up to 46th place from 48th (Moneycontrol, 18 June 2026).

The key analytical point: the headline total is down, but individually held customer deposits are up sharply. The aggregate decline is driven by interbank positions, not by household or individual holdings.

Round-Tripping: The Mauritius Treaty Ruling

On 15 January 2026 the Supreme Court held that certain Mauritius-resident entities in the Tiger Global structure were "conduit" companies, that GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules) can be invoked to deny treaty benefits, and materially weakened reliance on grandfathering. Reuters notes roughly USD 180 billion has historically been routed through Mauritius, with USD 171 billion of FDI over the 23 years to 2023 (Reuters, 16 January 2026). This is the single most consequential structural change for round-tripping risk in the period.

Abu Sabah (Balvinder Singh Sahni)

On 1 January 2026, the Dubai Court of Cassation cancelled the Dh150 million (approximately Rs 367 crore) proportional fine, substituting confiscation of the criminal funds. The five-year sentence, the Dh500,000 fine, and deportation were upheld. He was convicted along with 32 others. The network used shell companies and Bitcoin (Siasat, 1 January 2026).

FEMA Compounding

As per a Lok Sabha reply (27 July 2026, Question No. 1353), 79 FEMA compounding applications were disposed between April 2021 and 20 July 2026, with ED No-Objection Certificates in all cases. FEMA compounding rules were notified (Taxguru).

MLAT

NOT FOUND: No new India MLAT signings, ratifications, or notable MLAT-execution statistics for March to August 2026 were located. The ED Annual Report is reported to list delays in foreign requests among impediments to PMLA trials.

Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML)

What is TBML? Trade-based money laundering is the process of disguising the proceeds of crime and moving value through legitimate trade transactions. Criminals over-invoice or under-invoice goods, create fictitious invoices, or use shell companies to move money across borders under the guise of legitimate commerce. In India, fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud under GST is the most common proxy for TBML.

Fake Input Tax Credit - FY2025-26

From a Rajya Sabha reply reported 28 July 2026:

State concentration in FY26: Maharashtra 9,629 cases (Rs 18,320 crore); Gujarat 12,511 cases (Rs 12,633 crore). Fake GST registrations using forged PAN/Aadhaar: FY26 had 1,517 cases (Rs 9,940 crore, 60 arrests). CBIC attributes detection gains to AI risk-scoring (ADVAIT, BIFA), GSTR-2B matching, biometric Aadhaar authentication, and geo-tagging (Economic Times, 28 July 2026).

FY26 ITC-fraud detection nearly doubled in value and doubled in case count year on year, the sharpest proportional rise of any agency in this scorecard.

DGGI case example (April 2026): DGGI detected a Rs 1,825 crore ITC fraud, arresting the alleged mastermind at New Delhi airport on return from Dubai. Modus operandi: dummy firms floated on borrowed KYC, fake high-value tobacco invoices, and refund claims on zero-rated exports. The export-refund leg makes this a textbook TBML fact pattern rather than pure domestic ITC fraud (Livemint, 20 April 2026).

Counterfeit Currency (FICN), FY2025-26

Per the RBI Annual Report released 29 May 2026, 2,29,746 counterfeit notes were detected in FY2025-26, up 5.7%. Rs 500 fakes rose 20.5% to 1,41,907 pieces. Rs 200 notes: 30,591. Rs 100 notes: 45,621. Rs 2,000 notes: 824. 97.6% were detected by banks other than the RBI. The series excludes police seizures (The Hindu, 29 May 2026).

Gold Smuggling

The 13 May 2026 duty revision and its immediate effect: Customs duty on gold and silver was revised with effect from 13 May 2026. Parliament was given a before-and-after split (Lok Sabha, 21 July 2026, MoS Jitin Prasada):

Gold seizures nearly doubled in under half the elapsed time after the duty increase. This is the clearest available evidence that duty differentials drive smuggling volume (ANI, 21 July 2026; Zee Business, 21 July 2026).

Multi-year gold and silver seizure series (CBIC/Customs):

Four-year totals: 12,808.66 kg (12.81 tonnes) of gold and 5,401.95 kg of silver across 15,511 cases with 6,764 arrests. Sources: Zee Business, 21 July 2026; Kashmir Life.

The FY2025-26 collapse to 646.66 kg from 2,600.40 kg coincides with the lowest import-duty environment in the series (6%). The post-13 May 2026 rebound to 15% duty is consistent with the duty-elasticity story. Note: Customs/CBIC series and DRI-only series are not interchangeable. The original report's 1,073 kg FY2024-25 figure is DRI-only, while 2,600.40 kg is the all-Customs figure.

Ranya Rao case update:

• 25 February 2026: ED filed its chargesheet against the actor and two associates (New Indian Express).
• 16 April 2026: The Supreme Court upheld the COFEPOSA detention order (SC judgment PDF).
• 22 April 2026: She was released from Central Prison, Mysuru on completion of the one-year detention period. DRI indicated it would not seek an extension (LiveLaw, 22 April 2026).

The PMLA prosecution continues. The preventive-detention leg has ended.

Routes: The Dubai-Mumbai corridor remains the single largest channel. Mumbai's share of airport gold seizures rose from 8.7% in FY21 to 44.9% in FY26 (Business Standard).

Trade Transparency Units and Shell Companies

NOT FOUND: No March to August 2026 developments could be verified on India's Trade Transparency Unit, nor any 2026 MCA shell-company strike-off or enforcement statistics.

Agency Performance Scorecards

This section provides a consolidated performance view of all major agencies.

Enforcement Directorate

Assessment: ED has shifted from arrest-led to asset-led enforcement. Record attachments and searches, but the conviction gap (60 completed trials out of 8,851 ECIRs) remains the fundamental weakness. Crypto fraud, terror financing, and narcotics money laundering are now explicit priorities.

FIU-IND

Assessment: The VDA reporting regime is maturing with enhanced KYC, Travel Rule implementation, and OTC reporting demands. But the absence of a published FY26 STR count is a transparency gap.

NCB

Assessment: NCB conviction rates are improving. The 10th NCORD directive making ED financial investigation mandatory in major NDPS cases is a game-changer for the narcotics-AML nexus.

SEBI

Assessment: The enforcement-to-recovery gap is stark. Rs 35.5 crore in penalties against Rs 32,400.6 crore in pending recovery certificates reveals a structural weakness in SEBI's enforcement follow-through.

RBI

Assessment: Fraud is concentrating into fewer, larger advances-side events. CBDC growth has reversed. New institutions (IDPIC, MuleHunter.AI) are being built but adoption remains limited.

DGGI / GST

Assessment: The sharpest proportional rise of any agency. AI-driven detection (ADVAIT, BIFA) is yielding results.

Government Initiatives and Legislation

India's First FATF Vice-Presidency

Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and a 1994-batch IAS officer, was elected FATF Vice-President for the term July 2026 to June 2027. This is the first time India has held the post. PIB attributes the elevation to India's Mutual Evaluation performance and its contribution on virtual asset service provider and digital payment risks (PIB, 19 June 2026).

FATF Plenaries and Outputs

February 2026 plenary (9 to 13 February): Papua New Guinea and Kuwait added to the grey list. Giles Thomson named incoming President for 2026 to 2028 (ComplyAdvantage).

June 2026 plenary (17 to 19 June, Paris):

• Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq added to increased monitoring
• Algeria and Namibia removed
• 22 jurisdictions now under increased monitoring
• A report on underground banking, hawala, and similar service providers was approved for September 2026 publication (directly relevant to India's hawala typologies)
• Recommendation 6 updated for humanitarian carve-outs
• Consultation opened on R.16 (cross-border payment transparency)

Source: ComplyAdvantage, 22 June 2026

UK Presidency (from 1 July 2026): The UK assumed the FATF Presidency for a two-year term to June 2028, with three priorities: fraud, risk-based supervision, and information sharing/public-private partnerships. President Giles Thomson's plan notes fraud costs roughly USD 500 billion a year and was the predominant predicate offence in 90% of last-round MERs. Recommendations due by February 2027 (AML Intelligence, July 2026).

FATF 7th Targeted Update on Virtual Assets (16 July 2026): Only 1 of 149 jurisdictions fully compliant with R.15. 34% largely compliant, 43% partially compliant, 22% non-compliant. Travel Rule adopted in law by 83% of jurisdictions (VASPnet; Reuters, 16 July 2026).

Parliamentary Standing Committee 36th Report (23 July 2026)

The most significant legislative development of the period. Chaired by Bhartruhari Mahtab, the Committee recommended a "comprehensive examination" of virtual digital assets and an "appropriate regulatory framework" for crypto, NFTs, and digital tokens. As an interim arrangement, it proposed recognised self-regulatory organisations (SROs) under RBI or SEBI oversight. Other recommendations: extending the investigation period from 180 days to one year, broadening SAT appeal rights, and a 120-day limit for the Ombudsperson (PRS Legislative Research; MediaNama, 24 July 2026).

In a note to the panel dated 20 to 21 May 2026, the government classified the VDA ecosystem as "high risk" on illegal-activity and tax-compliance grounds (Economic Times).

Other Crypto Policy Developments

Sources: Moneycontrol; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; CoinDesk, 2 February 2026

AI Governance

• India AI Governance Guidelines released 15 February 2026: seven "Sutras." IndiaAI Mission with 38,000+ GPUs. AIKosh with 9,500+ datasets (PIB Release ID 2228315).
• AI Impact Summit 2026 (18 to 19 February, New Delhi): The New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact was endorsed by 92 countries and international organisations (per PIB). Note: secondary reporting gives different figures (Nature reports 86, Fortune reports 88). The PIB figure of 92 is used with the discrepancy flagged (PIB Release ID 2231208).

Online Gaming, Data Protection, and FEMA

• Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 came into force 1 May 2026 under the Online Gaming Act, 2025 (PIB, 30 April 2026). Enforcement followed quickly: ED attached Rs 1,906 crore of Gameskraft assets on 24 July 2026 (India Today).
• DPDP Rules 2025 notified 13 to 14 November 2025 with a phased timeline. Phase 2 (Consent Manager obligations) falls due November 2026 (India Briefing).
• FEMA (Non-Debt Instruments) Amendment Rules 2026 notified 1 May 2026, with a Third Amendment on 12 June 2026 (PwC India).

Items NOT FOUND

• No PMLA amendment enacted in 2026
• No verified 2026 status update on the Digital India Act
• No 2026 update on Trade Transparency Units

Gap Analysis

This section identifies the most significant enforcement and structural gaps in India's financial crime framework.

The PMLA Conviction Gap

60 completed trials against 8,851 ECIRs means roughly 99.3% of PMLA cases have never reached a completed trial. The 93.33% conviction rate applies only to the tiny fraction that finish. This is the single most important structural gap in India's AML enforcement.

Parliamentary data (4 August 2026): PMLA cases registered rose to 1,080 in FY26, a four-year high. 4,622 over five years (FY22: 1,116, FY23: 953, FY24: 698, FY25: 775). Only 43 convictions across the five-year period (FY2021-22 to FY2025-26), involving 104 accused. Prosecution complaints filed in 2,444 cases as on 30 June 2026. 1,243 accused arrested (The Wire, 5 August 2026).

Judicial Backlog

The original report's figures of 92,828 Supreme Court pending cases and 54 million total are now out of date.

• Supreme Court pendency: Over 96,000 as stated by the Centre in Rajya Sabha on 3 August 2026. Over 10,000 matters pending more than a decade. 26 pending over 30 years (India Today, 3 August 2026).
• Supreme Court Observer mid-year review (9 July 2026): Pendency rose from 92,828 in January 2026 to 94,314 in June 2026, the highest point of the year. Sanctioned sitting strength was raised to 38 judges by Ordinance (Supreme Court Observer).
• Total pendency across all courts: 5.64 crore (56.4 million) per the National Judicial Data Grid.
• High Courts: 80,660 cases older than 30 years.

NBFC Supervisory Gap

More than 4,000 NBFCs remain unregistered on the FIU-IND FINnet 2.0 portal as of 28 February 2026. This includes 3,910 Base Layer and 102 Middle Layer entities, including subsidiaries of multinationals, bank-affiliated NBFCs, and state-owned entities. FIU-IND reviews the list quarterly (Moneycontrol, 17 March 2026). This is a concrete, quantified reporting-entity gap directly relevant to FATF Immediate Outcome 3/4.

Cyber Fraud: Scale and Recovery Gap

Sources: New Indian Express, 21 July 2026; Fortune India, 28 July 2026

The recovery ratio of roughly 6.7% on digital payment fraud is the single sharpest quantified gap in the 2026 data.

AI Adoption Gap

Only about 21% of surveyed Indian banks and financial institutions have begun implementing or are building AI solutions for core operations, per RBI surveys reported in the Economic Survey 2025-26. Adoption is concentrated among larger banks. Most deployments are basic (chatbots, process efficiency) rather than complex decision-making. The regulatory scaffolding (FREE-AI, SEBI AI principles, IDPIC, MuleHunter.AI) is running well ahead of institutional adoption (Economic Times, 29 January 2026).

Notably, the Finance Ministry is deploying AI tools for fraud detection, but the Enforcement Directorate has yet to adopt them (MediaNama, April 2026).

The AI-Enabled Threat Side

• 90% of financial crime professionals report increased AI-driven attacks (Nasdaq Verafin, March 2026).
• AI-enhanced fraud is 4.5x more profitable, and agentic AI can autonomously run complete fraud campaigns (INTERPOL, March 2026).
• Deepfake attacks rose 900% (Business Standard, 15 March 2026).

Projections and Market Data 2026 to 2030

India AML Market

The original report's figure of USD 4.72 billion (2025) growing to USD 9.88 billion by 2031 at 12.8% CAGR remains unchanged. The source page (Mobility Foresights) was last updated 13 August 2025 and no 2026 revision has been found. This figure should be labelled as "last updated August 2025" (Mobility Foresights).

Global AML Market

Three divergent estimates, all published in 2026:

Mordor notes APAC is the fastest-growing region at 19.31% CAGR, and the crypto-exchange/VASP segment at 19.11% CAGR. Sources: Precedence Research; Mordor Intelligence; GM Insights.

India Crypto Market

The original report's "~USD 2.6B growing to USD 15B by 2030" should be revised. IMARC Group sizes the India cryptocurrency market at USD 3.04 billion in 2025, growing to USD 14.21 billion by 2034 at an 18.66% CAGR. This cites approximately 119 million crypto users, India's first place in the Chainalysis adoption index, remittances above USD 125 billion a year, and stablecoin transfer costs of roughly 1% versus 5 to 7% traditional (IMARC Group).

Conflicting estimate to disclose: Grand View Research sizes India at only USD 258.2 million (2025) growing to USD 731.9 million (2033) at 14.3% CAGR, a different scope (hardware and software revenue rather than market value) (Grand View Research).

India Digital Forensics Market

Deloitte notes: software is 54% of the market, government is the largest end-user at 81%, mobile forensics is 55% by type. Constraints: shortage of trained professionals, high adoption cost, encryption complexity, and financial constraints. Sources: Grand View Research; Deloitte India / DSCI.

International Threat Benchmarks

Nasdaq Verafin 2026 Global Financial Crime Report (11 March 2026): Global illicit financial activity reached USD 4.4 trillion in 2025, up USD 1.3 trillion since 2023. Drug trafficking: USD 1.1 trillion (17.1% growth). Human trafficking: USD 528.5 billion (23.5% growth). Terrorist financing: USD 16.2 billion (18.8% growth). 90% of financial crime professionals report increased AI-driven attacks (Nasdaq IR release).

INTERPOL Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment (16 March 2026): Fraud-related Notices and Diffusions up 54% since 2024. Over 1,500 transnational fraud cases supported involving USD 1.1 billion in lost assets. INTERPOL assesses AI-enhanced fraud as 4.5x more profitable (INTERPOL).

Basel AML Index, 14th Public Edition (December 2025, no 2026 edition found): India ranked 60 of 177 with a score of 5.66 out of 10 (10 = maximum risk), marked as an increase in risk since 2024. Global average: 5.28 (Basel AML Index ranking).

Secretariat Economic Crime Index (SECI): Only the 2025 edition exists, in which India scored 2.31 out of 4.00, ranking 96 of 177. No 2026 edition has been published. This figure should be labelled as "2025 edition, latest available" (Secretariat 2025 report).

Case Studies

PACL / Pearls Group - Largest Restitution in ED History

On 30 March 2026, the Special Court ordered restitution of 455 properties worth Rs 15,582 crore to the Justice Lodha Committee. FY26 attachments in this case alone were Rs 26,324 crore, taking case-total attachments to Rs 27,030 crore. PACL had raised approximately Rs 68,000 crore of which approximately Rs 48,000 crore remained unpaid to investors (ED Press Release, 30 March 2026).

On 9 to 10 June 2026, the Rouse Avenue court ordered confiscation and restitution of a further 282 properties worth Rs 9,420.57 crore (UNI; Indian Express).

Mahadev Online Book - Rs 1,700 Crore Attachment

On 24 March 2026, ED issued a provisional attachment of approximately Rs 1,700 crore, including 18 Dubai properties (one in the Burj Khalifa) and two Delhi properties. Case-total attachments are approximately Rs 4,336 crore across 175+ premises searched, 13 arrests, 5 prosecution complaints, and 74 accused. On 8 July 2026, BJP Delhi economic cell convenor Vikas Garg was arrested in the case (Daijiworld; The Wire).

Gameskraft - Rs 1,906 Crore Attachment

On 22 July 2026, approximately Rs 1,906 crore was attached (Gameskraft / RummyTime) on the basis of Telangana FIRs. Approximately 3 crore users and Rs 1,035 crore of promotional spend were cited (Indiantelevision).

Raheja Developers - Cumulative Rs 2,399.65 Crore

Three PAOs in FY27 to date: 28 April 2026 (Rs 1,113.81 crore), 15 June 2026 (Rs 503.48 crore), and 31 July 2026 (Rs 782.36 crore). Rs 2,425.99 crore had been collected from approximately 4,600 homebuyers (ET Realty, 31 July 2026).

Goa Iron Ore / Salgaocar (AVS Group) - Rs 1,023.85 Crore

On 19 June 2026, ED issued a PAO of Rs 1,023.85 crore: 99 Indian properties (Rs 459.10 crore), 31 Singapore properties (Rs 471.32 crore), and shares (Rs 93.42 crore). Total proceeds of crime quantified at Rs 5,237.84 crore (Rs 2,492.95 crore domestic plus Rs 2,744.89 crore offshore) (Moneylife).

Amira Pure Foods - USD 10 Million MLAT Attachment

On 25 May 2026, ED Gurugram attached USD 10,034,819.01 (approximately Rs 94.76 crore) in Bank of Singapore accounts of Karan Chanana, Amira Foods Pte. Ltd., and Ananntya Pte. Ltd., served via MLAT with the UK and Singapore. Case-total attachments are now approximately Rs 226.26 crore (ED Press Release index).

Nihal V.N. - Crypto-Hawala-Narcotics

Covered in detail in ED Crypto-Hawala Enforcement in 2026. This is the clearest documented instance of the narcotics to hawala to crypto to offshore procurement typology in the period. ED arrested the Dubai-based Indian national on 23 July 2026 for converting drug proceeds into cryptocurrencies and routing them to cartels in Brazil and Thailand (ED Press Release, 23 July 2026).

Afghan Talc-Heroin Case - Rs 74 Crore Hawala to Afghanistan

Covered in detail in ED Crypto-Hawala Enforcement in 2026. Rs 74 crore of narcotics proceeds were moved through hawala channels to Afghanistan and used to fund terrorist activities (Moneycontrol, 27 June 2026).

Faisal Shaikh (Salim Dola Network) - Chargesheet Filed

After the PAO of 16 February 2026 attaching 7 Mumbai flats worth Rs 5.88 crore, ED Mumbai filed a prosecution complaint on 24 July 2026 (published 29 July 2026) against Faisal Javed Shaikh, his wife Alfiya Shaikh, and 10 others before the Special Court (PMLA), Mumbai, in the NDPS-linked MD-drug distribution network (ED Press Release index; Ground News). NCB secured the return of Mohammad Salim Dola from Turkiye on 28 April 2026 (NCB press release index).

BitBNS - ED Attachment Quashed

On 15 May 2026, the Appellate Tribunal (SAFEMA) quashed ED's Rs 29.28 crore provisional attachment against BitBNS / Buy Hatke. This is the most significant crypto-specific reversal of the period and an important judicial check on ED's crypto enforcement powers (ET Legal, 15 May 2026).

Pawan Thakur - Status Unclear

Pawan Thakur (Dubai-based, subject of Interpol's first Indian-initiated Silver Notice in September 2025, linked to the 82 kg Delhi cocaine seizure valued at approximately Rs 2,500 crore and to a hawala network) was reported arrested in Dubai in November 2025 with deportation to India pending. No confirmation of extradition, arrival in India, or any ED/PMLA action between March and August 2026 could be verified. The last reliable status remains Dubai arrest in November 2025, deportation pending (Economic Times, September 2025).

Goa Nightclub Fire ("Birch by Romeo Lane")

Following the 6 December 2025 fire that killed 25 people, ED raided premises on 23 January 2026 and flagged Rs 22 crore as suspected proceeds of crime. Rs 17.45 crore was seized in April 2026, and a second PAO of Rs 11.01 crore was issued on 27 May 2026 (Moneycontrol).

US/FBI-Linked Cyber Fraud - Rs 187.13 Crore

On 1 August 2026, ED attached Rs 187.13 crore in luxury farmhouses and villas in Haryana, Delhi, and Goa. An illegal call centre "Digikaps" with approximately 36 staff posed as IRS and tech-support agents. Victims were made to transfer funds into syndicate-controlled crypto wallets, layered via Bliss Infraproperties LLP into real estate. CBI FIR based on FBI inputs. Searches at 13 locations in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi in January to February 2026 (New Indian Express, 1 August 2026).

Judicial Developments Affecting ED Powers

• The Supreme Court stayed a Delhi High Court order that had upheld an ED attachment in an online betting case (February 2026), and is reviewing the scope of ED's attachment powers under PMLA.
• The Supreme Court is to decide whether ED can continue a money laundering prosecution after acquittal in the predicate offence.
• May 2026: The Supreme Court held that an accused must be heard before a PMLA court takes cognisance.
• The Madras High Court quashed the ED case against Minister I. Periyasamy.
• The Appellate Tribunal quashed ED's Rs 29 crore attachment against BitBNS.

Data Gaps and Items NOT FOUND

The following items were researched across multiple rounds but could not be verified from any reliable source as of 9 August 2026. They must not be filled in from memory or assumption:

1. FIU-IND FY26 STR count - not published. The latest FIU-IND Annual Report on the site is for 2024-25.
2. FIU-IND FY26 monetary penalties - not found. The Rs 29 crore is cumulative from FY2024-25.
3. Total GST evasion across all heads for FY2025-26 - only the fake-ITC subset (Rs 74,782 crore) is confirmed.
4. DRI Smuggling in India Report 2025-26 - not yet published. The 2024-25 edition remains current.
5. ED FY2026-27 year-to-date figures - the ED statistics page is still dated 31 March 2026.
6. Jane Street v. SEBI outcome - no verified judgment from the 31 July 2026 SAT hearing.
7. FATF follow-up report on India in 2026 - not found. India remains in "regular follow-up."
8. PMLA amendment in 2026 - none located.
9. Digital India Act status - no verified 2026 update.
10. Trade Transparency Units update - no 2026 developments found.
11. 2026 SECI edition - only the 2025 edition exists.
12. 2026 Basel AML Index edition - the 14th Public Edition of December 2025 remains latest.
13. VDA TDS collection for FY2025-26 - no rupee figure published.
14. ED cumulative crypto attachment figure after 5 February 2026 - no later aggregate located.
15. BSF consolidated FY26 seizure statistics - only isolated incidents found.
16. NIA consolidated terror-financing statistics FY26 - only individual case press releases.
17. 4th Bloc Consultants post-December 2025 developments - none found.
18. Pawan Thakur extradition to India or ED action in 2026 - not confirmed.
19. India-Switzerland AEOI 2026 tranche specifics - not verified.
20. New MLAT signings or execution statistics, March to August 2026 - not found.

Methodology

Research Approach

This enhanced report was compiled using a structured research methodology:

1. Baseline audit: The original HTML report (271.8 KB, 5,153 lines) and the published blog post were analysed section by section to extract every factual claim, statistic, and data point.

2. Claim inventory: Every claim was catalogued and assigned to one of four research workstreams: (a) ED and agency scorecards, (b) crypto crime, (c) hawala/narcotics/FEMA/TBML, and (d) regulatory actions/gap analysis/projections.

3. Parallel research: Four independent research streams were executed, each searching official Indian government sources (PIB, Parliament questions, ED press releases, RBI, SEBI, NCB, DRI), international official sources (FATF, UNODC, INTERPOL), crypto intelligence sources (TRM Labs, Chainalysis, Tether), and reputable media (Reuters, Economic Times, Business Standard, Livemint, Moneycontrol, The Hindu, Tribune, etc.).

4. Source priority: Tier 1 sources (primary/official documents) were preferred. Tier 2 sources (reputable secondary media) were used when they reported official data. Tier 3 sources (crypto-media, aggregators) were used only with explicit reliability caveats.

5. Verification rule: Every figure in this report comes from a source page that was actually fetched during research. Where no updated data could be verified, the gap is stated explicitly as "NOT FOUND" rather than estimated or filled from memory.

6. Figure verification: Two figures were re-verified against primary sources and are stated explicitly in the changelog: VDA TDS collection for FY2024-25 (Rs 511.83 crore) and ED cumulative crypto attachments (Rs 4,209.74 crore). Working drafts prepared during research carried different values for both; neither incorrect value was ever published on this page.

7. Discrepancy disclosure: Two data discrepancies are disclosed: NCB conviction rates differ between the NCB year-end release and the PIB April 2026 release, and the ED conviction rate of 93.33% (of completed trials) versus 2.33% (of chargesheets filed).

Limitations

• All data is current as of 9 August 2026. Subsequent developments are not captured.
• Several official reports (DRI Smuggling Report 2025-26, FIU-IND Annual Report 2025-26, ED Annual Report FY2025-26 PDF) were not available online as of the research date.
• Some figures rest on secondary reporting of official data and should be re-verified against primary documents when available.
• Market size and projection figures are from private research firms and may use different methodologies.
• The NCB conviction rate discrepancy between two official sources remains unexplained.

Changelog: What Changed From the Original Report

This section documents what changed against the February 2026 edition of this page.

Figures Verified During This Update

Two figures were checked against primary sources and are stated here so the current values are unambiguous. Neither figure appeared in the February 2026 edition of this page, so neither is a correction to anything published here.

Key Figures Updated

New Material Added

1. India's first FATF Vice-Presidency (Vivek Aggarwal, July 2026 to June 2027)
2. 10th NCORD meeting (26 June 2026): Vision Document on Drug Control 2026 to 2029. ED financial investigation mandatory in major NDPS cases.
3. NCB Operation WHITE STRIKE (349 kg cocaine, Rs 1,745 crore)
4. NCB Operation RAGEPILL (first Captagon seizure, Rs 182 crore)
5. PACL restitution: Rs 15,582 crore (March 2026) plus Rs 9,420.57 crore (June 2026) - largest in ED history
6. Mahadev Online Book Rs 1,700 crore attachment
7. Gameskraft Rs 1,906 crore attachment (online gaming)
8. Salgaocar/Goa iron ore Rs 1,023.85 crore attachment
9. Raheja Developers cumulative Rs 2,399.65 crore
10. Nihal V.N. crypto-hawala-narcotics case (flagship narco-finance case)
11. Afghan talc-heroin case (Rs 74 crore hawala to Afghanistan for terror financing)
12. Shelbit/Iran USD 6.3 billion settlement layer (88% on TRON)
13. TRM Labs H1 2026 hacks report (207 hacks, USD 972 million)
14. FATF 7th VA Targeted Update (only 1 of 149 jurisdictions fully compliant)
15. Parliamentary Standing Committee 36th Report (SRO-based crypto regulation)
16. Asset Tokenisation (Regulation) Bill, 2026
17. CARF implementation (CBDT 198-page guidance note, first exchange April 2027)
18. IDPIC established as Section 8 company
19. MuleHunter.AI at 29 banks
20. Online Gaming Rules 2026 in force 1 May 2026
21. e-Rupee circulation declined (reversal of CBDC narrative)
22. SEBI Annual Report 2025-26 enforcement data
23. Jane Street v. SEBI case status (pending)
24. BitBNS attachment quashed by Appellate Tribunal
25. Madras High Court recognised cryptocurrency as "property"
26. Binance Travel Rule implemented for Indian users
27. FIU-IND OTC reporting demand
28. Enhanced KYC requirements (selfie with liveness, geolocation, IP address)
29. UNODC World Drug Report 2026 (Myanmar opium 420 tonnes to 1,000+ tonnes)
30. UNODC Synthetic Drugs Report 2026 (meth seizures 349 tonnes, up 48%)
31. Nasdaq Verafin: global illicit financial activity USD 4.4 trillion in 2025
32. INTERPOL Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment
33. Basel AML Index: India ranked 60 of 177 with score 5.66
34. India digital forensics market projections (Deloitte/DSCI, Grand View)
35. CJNG-India link (Mexico-Dubai-New Delhi crypto-hawala settlement chain)
36. Gujarat "dirty crypto" terror financing network (Rs 226.54 crore, 12 arrests)
37. Rs 16,000 crore foreign remittance hawala case
38. J&K 8,000+ mule accounts frozen ("digital hawala")
39. Gold duty raised from 6% to 15% on 13 May 2026; post-hike surge in smuggling
40. SC upheld Ranya Rao COFEPOSA detention (16 April 2026); released 22 April 2026
41. Salim Dola extradited from Turkiye (28 April 2026)
42. Iqbal Singh extradited from Portugal (13 May 2026)
43. AI adoption gap: only ~21% of Indian banks have begun AI implementation
44. ED has not adopted AI tools (Finance Ministry has)
45. Deepfake attacks rose 900%
46. Chainalysis wrench attacks: USD 30 million+ stolen in 2026
47. Chainalysis money laundering: USD 82 billion on-chain ecosystem in 2025
48. EU MiCA grandfathering ended 1 July 2026: only 281 of 1,343 firms authorised
49. USDT on TRON exceeded USD 90 billion supply
50. 4,000+ NBFCs unregistered on FIU-IND FINnet 2.0
51. Digital payment fraud recovery: ~6.7%
52. AI governance: India AI Governance Guidelines, AI Impact Summit, New Delhi Declaration
53. Supreme Court Mauritius GAAR ruling (15 January 2026)
54. FEMA compounding: 79 applications disposed since FY22
55. RBI "switch on/switch off" and "kill switch" for digital payments
56. RBI cross-border inward payments guidelines (9 April 2026, effective 9 October 2026)

Items Unchanged (No Update Found)

1. India AML market: USD 4.72 billion (2025) to USD 9.88 billion (2031) at 12.8% CAGR (source page unchanged since August 2025)
2. SECI score: 2.31 out of 4.00, rank 96 of 177 (only 2025 edition exists)
3. India FATF status: "Regular Follow-Up" since June 2024 (no 2026 follow-up report found)
4. Crypto STR count: 11,720 (April to November 2025 remains the latest available)
5. Rs 1,100 crore FIU-IND VDASP hawala case: no 2026 update found
6. Operation Sagar Manthan: no 2026 activity found
7. 4th Bloc Consultants: no post-December 2025 developments found

Items Marked as NOT FOUND (Explicit Gaps)

See Data Gaps and Items NOT FOUND for the full list of 20 items that could not be verified.

This enhanced report was compiled on 9 August 2026. All figures are traceable to the cited source URLs. Items marked NOT FOUND or NOT PUBLISHED have been researched across multiple rounds but could not be verified from reliable sources. No values have been filled in from memory or assumption. For the original publication, visit withkeshav.com/research/india-financial-crime-intelligence.