Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has urged the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to equip itself with the latest technology to prevent economic crime and tackle smuggling.

DRI — a premier economic intelligence agency — has to be an organisation “where technology needs to play an important role,” Jaitley said at an event marking the 2{+n}{+d} occasion of DRI’s Foundation Day here on Thursday.

In a globalised environment, trade-related money laundering was on the increase and this needed to be curbed effectively.

Many corporate groups have multi-layered structures that would make things difficult for revenue intelligence agencies, he pointed out. Fiscal incentives for malpractice had come down, but people still look for loopholes they can exploit, Jaitley said.

The minister underscored the need for international cooperation and sharing of intelligence information among countries, especially neighbouring ones, to control illicit movement of goods across borders. The world is already “obliterating” the gap between tax avoidance and tax evasion, he said.

Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das urged the DRI to focus on preventing trade-related money laundering.

At the same time, the agency should work in a non-intrusive manner so that legitimate movement of goods and services across borders and within the country is not affected, he said.