UPSC Prelims 2025 Q3: ED, DRI and DGSDM — Who Works Under Whom

With reference to the Government of India, consider the following information:

| III. | Directorate General of Systems and Data Management | Carrying out big data analytics to assist tax officers for better policy and nabbing tax evaders | Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance |

In how many of the above rows is the information correctly matched?

Only one
Only two
All the three
None

Answer: (a) Only one

Statement-wise explanation

I: incorrect — The function is right: the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) enforces the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, along with PMLA 2002 and FEMA 1999. The controlling ministry is wrong. ED is under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, not under any division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has sat in the Department of Revenue since 1960.
II: correct — The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was set up in 1957. It is India's top anti-smuggling agency and enforces the Customs Act, 1962, plus more than fifty allied laws such as the NDPS Act, Arms Act, COFEPOSA and the Wild Life (Protection) Act. It works under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), and CBIC is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. So both the function and the ministry are correct.
III: incorrect — The Directorate General of Systems and Data Management (DGSDM) is CBIC's technology arm. It runs automation and IT systems for customs and GST, and it compiles and shares tax-collection data with the Board and field offices. 'Big data analytics to assist tax officers for better policy and nabbing tax evaders' is the official mandate of a different body: the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM), set up under CBIC on 1 July 2018. The function given in this row belongs to DGARM, so the row is not correctly matched.

How to eliminate

Row I can be ruled out with basic knowledge. ED is widely known as an agency of the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), not the Home Ministry. The CBI, by contrast, sits under DoPT. 'Internal Security Division-I, MHA' is a deliberate trap. That leaves 'All the three' out. Row II is a standard textbook fact: DRI is the anti-smuggling agency under CBIC and enforces the Customs Act. With II correct and I wrong, 'None' is also out. The choice is now between only one and only two, and it depends entirely on Row III. Its ministry, the Department of Revenue, is technically right, so the trap lies in the function. You need to know that the 'big data analytics … nabbing evaders' wording is the official description of DGARM (2018), not of DGSDM. DGSDM is CBIC's systems and data-support wing. If you don't know this, the question cannot be fully solved. The fact to remember: DGARM does analytics and risk management, while DGSDM does IT systems and data management.

Know more

Agencies of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance

The Department of Revenue controls direct and indirect taxes through two statutory boards set up under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963. These are the CBDT (income tax) and the CBIC (customs, central excise, GST). Most enforcement and intelligence bodies sit under one of these boards. A few, such as ED, report to the Department directly.

Body	Year	Under	Core function
Directorate of Enforcement (ED)	1956	Department of Revenue (directly)	PMLA 2002, FEMA 1999, FEOA 2018
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)	1957	CBIC	Anti-smuggling; Customs Act 1962 and allied laws
DG of GST Intelligence (DGGI)	renamed 2017	CBIC	GST and central excise evasion
DG of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM)	2018	CBIC	Big data analytics and risk profiling to catch evaders
DG of Systems and Data Management (DGSDM)	—	CBIC	IT systems, automation, tax-collection data
Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND)	2004	Department of Revenue	Receives and analyses suspicious transaction reports

Points UPSC likes to test

ED began in 1956 as an 'Enforcement Unit' in the Department of Economic Affairs and moved to the Department of Revenue in 1960. It is a Finance Ministry agency, unlike the CBI (DoPT) or NIA (MHA).
Under FEOA 2018, ED files the application before a Special Court (the PMLA court) to declare someone a fugitive economic offender. The Act covers offences worth ₹100 crore or more.
DRI enforces the NDPS Act too, so it also makes drug seizures, not only gold seizures.
Questions often pair a correct function with a wrong ministry, or a correct ministry with a sister body's function. Check each column separately.

In the news

ED stayed in the news through 2024–25 over PMLA arrests and fugitive-economic-offender declarations. DRI marked its 67th Foundation Day on 4 December 2024. The question itself is mostly static and tests organisational structure.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

Enforcement Directorate: Row I depends on where ED sits in the government. This entry explains the agency and its parent department.
Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018: Row I names FEOA 2018 as ED's function. Learn what the Act does and who enforces it.
Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002: PMLA is ED's main law. Knowing it helps you place ED among the economic-enforcement agencies.