{"id":116123,"date":"2022-09-19T13:07:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T07:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/?p=116123"},"modified":"2026-08-24T19:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:33:31","slug":"special-fraud-investigation-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/special-fraud-investigation-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Fraud investigation office: UPSC Daily Important Topic | 18 September 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO): Concise Exam Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is a multidisciplinary organisation under the <strong>Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It investigates serious corporate frauds and white-collar crimes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Its headquarters is located in <strong>New Delhi<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is headed by a <strong>Director<\/strong> in the rank of <strong>Joint Secretary to the Government of India<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Establishment and Legal Status<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SFIO was initially established through a Government of India resolution dated <strong>2 July 2003<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Initially, it did not have formal statutory status.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 211 of the Companies Act, 2013<\/strong> granted statutory status to SFIO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Composition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SFIO comprises experts from several fields, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Accountancy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forensic auditing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Law and company law<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Information technology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investigation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Capital markets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Major Functions and Powers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Investigates complex and serious corporate frauds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Detects white-collar crimes involving companies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prosecutes offenders or recommends their prosecution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Has the power to arrest persons for specified offences under the Companies Act, 2013.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Uses multidisciplinary expertise to examine financial transactions, digital evidence and corporate records.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Computer Forensic and Data Mining Laboratory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Computer Forensic and Data Mining Laboratory (CFDML)<\/strong> was established in <strong>2013<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It provides digital-forensic and data-mining assistance to SFIO officers during investigations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When Can an SFIO Investigation Be Ordered?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the Companies Act, 2013, the <strong>Central Government<\/strong> may assign an investigation into a company\u2019s affairs to SFIO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On receiving a report from the Registrar of Companies or an inspector under <strong>Section 208<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On receiving intimation of a <strong>special resolution<\/strong> passed by the company requesting an investigation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When an investigation is considered necessary in the <strong>public interest<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On the request of any department of the Central Government or a State Government.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick Revision Facts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Point<\/th><th>Fact<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Full form<\/td><td>Serious Fraud Investigation Office<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Administrative ministry<\/td><td>Ministry of Corporate Affairs<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Headquarters<\/td><td>New Delhi<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Established<\/td><td>2 July 2003<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Statutory provision<\/td><td>Section 211, Companies Act, 2013<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Head<\/td><td>Director<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Director\u2019s rank<\/td><td>Joint Secretary to the Government of India<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Digital-forensic laboratory<\/td><td>CFDML<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>CFDML established<\/td><td>2013<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Investigation entrusted by<\/td><td>Central Government<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Section 208<\/td><td>Report on inspection<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Exam takeaway:<\/strong> SFIO was created in <strong>2003<\/strong>, but it received statutory status only through <strong>Section 211 of the Companies Act, 2013<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO): Concise Exam Notes Overview Establishment and Legal Status Composition SFIO comprises experts from several fields, including: Major Functions and Powers Computer Forensic and Data Mining Laboratory When Can an SFIO Investigation Be Ordered? Under the Companies Act, 2013, the Central Government may assign an investigation into a company\u2019s affairs to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":894,"featured_media":116124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4926],"tags":[1797],"class_list":["post-116123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-september-2022","tag-upsc-daily-important-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116123"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176104,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116123\/revisions\/176104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}