What is Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)?

About Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI):

• DRI was constituted in 1957 as the apex anti-smuggling intelligence and investigation agency.
• It works under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. 
• DRI enforces the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, and over fifty other allied Acts, including the Arms Act, NDPS Act, COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities), Wildlife Act, Antiquities Act, etc. 
• It is tasked with detecting and curbing smuggling of contraband, including drug trafficking and illicit international trade in wildlife and environmentally sensitive items, as well as combating commercial frauds related to international trade and evasion of customs duty.
• It has a country-wide network of zonal, regional and sub-regional units and intelligence cells.
• DRI collects, analyzes, and disseminates intelligence to the field formations, helps in investigations, and keeps statistics of seizures and prices/rates, etc, for watching trends of smuggling and movement of other contraband and suggest remedies for fixing loopholes in existing laws and procedures.

Q1: What is the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)?

CBIC (erstwhile Central Board of Excise and Customs) is a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. CBIC administers all the indirect tax-related matters in India. It deals with the tasks of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs, Central Excise duties, Central Goods & Services Tax and IGST, prevention of smuggling and administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise, Central Goods & Services Tax, IGST, and Narcotics to the extent under CBIC's purview. 

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