The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered 1,080 fresh cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the financial year 2025-26, the highest in the last four years. However, the agency’s conviction rate remained significantly low, with courts securing convictions in only 43 cases over the past five years, representing approximately 0.93% of the total cases registered.
Replying to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the ED had filed 2,444 prosecution complaints before Special PMLA Courts as of June 30, 2026. These cases are currently at different stages of trial. He further informed the House that the agency had arrested 1,243 accused under the provisions of the PMLA during the period. However, the government does not maintain centralised data on the number of undertrial prisoners currently in jail, as many arrests in predicate offences are carried out by other investigating agencies.
According to data presented in Parliament, the number of PMLA cases registered by the ED has fluctuated over the past five financial years. The agency registered 1,116 cases in 2021-22, followed by 953 in 2022-23 and 698 in 2023-24. The number rose again to 775 in 2024-25 before reaching a four-year high of 1,080 in 2025-26. In total, the ED registered 4,622 cases under the anti-money laundering law during the five-year period.
Despite the increase in investigations, convictions have remained limited. Between 2021-22 and 2025-26, courts recorded convictions in only 43 cases. The annual break-up shows three convictions in 2021-22, nine each in 2022-23, 2024-25 and 2025-26, and 13 convictions in 2023-24. A total of 104 accused were convicted in these 43 cases. The highest number of convicted accused was recorded in 2024-25 at 38, followed by 24 in 2022-23 and 19 each in 2023-24 and 2025-26.
The government also placed data relating to prosecutions by the Income Tax Department before Parliament. Over the last five financial years, the department filed a total of 2,127 prosecution cases. These included 195 cases in 2021-22, 387 in 2022-23, 502 in 2023-24, 611 in 2024-25 and 432 in 2025-26. The number of prosecution cases in 2025-26 was lower than in the preceding three years.
The Finance Ministry clarified that prosecution complaints under the Income-tax Act are filed only after obtaining approval from the competent authority under Section 279(1) and upon completion of the investigation. Therefore, the number of prosecutions filed in a particular year cannot be directly compared with convictions or acquittals recorded during the same period.
The data further showed that the Income Tax Department secured convictions in only 233 cases over the last five years, while 854 cases ended in acquittals. During 2025-26, courts recorded convictions in 47 cases, whereas acquittals rose to 293, the highest in the last four years.
The government also noted that prosecution figures and conviction or acquittal statistics for a particular financial year are not directly correlated because court judgments often relate to cases filed in earlier years. As a result, conviction and acquittal data generally reflect the disposal of cases initiated over multiple financial years.
The latest figures presented in Parliament indicate that the Enforcement Directorate has significantly intensified its anti-money laundering investigations in recent years. However, the growing number of registered cases, coupled with prolonged judicial proceedings and a relatively low conviction rate, continues to underline the challenges faced in securing timely outcomes in financial crime prosecutions.
