Hyderabad: ED seizes ₹38.7 lakh in FEMA raids on forex firms
HYDERABAD: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, conducted search operations on October 16, 2025, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, at five locations in Hyderabad. The raids were carried out at the premises of Full Fledged Money Changers (FFMCs) — Prism Forex Private Limited, Garuda Forex Services Private Limited, Sree Vimal Nath Forex Private Limited, Victory Forex & Travel Services Private Limited, and Digital Forex Private Limited.
RBI found fake travel documents and forged tickets
According to ED officials, the search operations revealed that the firms were operating without valid licences from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Earlier, an RBI inspection at these firms had found several irregularities, including Know Your Customer (KYC) documents without corresponding travel tickets, fictitious traveller names, forged flight tickets, manipulation of flight dates and numbers, and mismatched customer signatures. Multiple copies of the same travel ticket were also recovered with key details altered.
The RBI found that these FFMCs had shown most of their sales against travel to destinations such as Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, where visas are not required. Following these findings, the RBI prompted the surrender of their licences between June and July 2025.
ED seizes ₹38.76 lakh and digital records
Despite surrendering their licences, some of the FFMCs — namely Prism Forex, Victory Forex & Travel Services, and Digital Forex — continued to operate illegally, displaying fake or forged RBI licences on their premises. The ED’s searches resulted in the recovery of incriminating documents, mobile phones, and laptops containing records of illegal foreign currency dealings.
Officials also seized unaccounted Indian currency worth ₹11.99 lakh and foreign currency of various denominations equivalent to ₹26.77 lakh. Further investigation is in progress.
