Over 54k suspicious transactions reported to FIU in 2013-14

Over 54,000 instances of suspicious transactions, involving dealings related to terror financing and Hawala, have been detected by the financial intelligence department of the government during last fiscal.
According to an official data of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the elite intelligence wing of the Finance Ministry, more than 54,000 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) have been received by the agency during the said period which may have connections with illegal and criminal funds.
These reports were sent to the FIU by private and public sector banks, financial intermediaries and other financial institutions under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"The STRs reflect a trend. Do they indicate a clear case of laundering, terror financing or tax evasion? That is only made after all the reports are investigated into by various agencies," a senior Finance Ministry official said.
The STRs are identified as those financial transactions which give rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that the transaction may involve the proceeds of crime or financing of activities related to terrorism or were made in circumstances of unusual complexity.
During the same period, the FIU also received a total of 96 lakh Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) and over 4,50,000 Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs).

While a CTR is prepared once it is detected that a transaction of value of more than Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency has taken place or simultaneous transactions of this amount have taken place within a month, a CCR is equivalent to details of an instance of counterfeit currency detected by a bank.

The FIU, during the same period, also received a total of 89 requests for relevant information from its foreign counterparts even as it sent a total of 77 requests during this period to overseas FIUs.
A total of 534 instances for want of information were also made by Indian investigative and enforcement agencies for want of information to the FIU.

The FIU, a central agency for receiving, analysing and disseminating data related to doubtful transactions in the economic channels of the country.