India’s Security and Intelligence Agencies

India’s safety does not depend on one agency. It depends on a whole family of them. Some investigate crimes, some gather secrets, and some listen to signals. This lesson explains who does what, and why the way these powers are used is a big debate.

1Chapter 1: The Investigation Agencies

Must Know

CBI

• The Central Bureau of Investigation traces back to 1941.
• The government then set up the Special Police Establishment to investigate bribery in the War and Supply Department.
• It became the CBI in 1963, after the Santhanam Committee recommended it, to tackle corruption.
• D.P. Kohli was the founding director.

NIA

• The National Investigation Agency is far newer.
• It followed the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
• Those attacks exposed how badly India needed one federal agency dedicated to terrorism cases, many prosecuted under the UAPA.
• The NIA Act came in December 2008, and the agency started work in 2009.
• Read more: National Investigation Agency (NIA), UAPA and Terrorist Designations and TADA and POTA.

Why two agencies

• Terror and ordinary crime need different investigative skills and legal powers.
• So India built two separate agencies, almost fifty years apart.
• Both probe cases too serious, or too cross-border, for a single state police force.

2Chapter 2: The Intelligence Agencies

Must Know

IB: inside the country

• The Intelligence Bureau is often described as one of the oldest intelligence agencies in the world.
• It began on 23 December 1887 as the “Central Special Branch”.
• British India set it up to track Russian troop movements near Afghanistan.
• Today it handles internal intelligence, watching threats inside the country.

RAW: outside the country

• The Research and Analysis Wing did not exist until 1968.
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi split it off from the IB on 21 September that year.
• The 1962 war with China and the 1965 war with Pakistan had exposed a gap.
• India had no dedicated agency tracking threats outside its own borders.
• R.N. Kao became RAW’s first chief.

NTRO: signals and imagery

• The National Technical Research Organisation was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in October 2004.
• The Kargil Review Committee recommended it directly.
• That committee found technical intelligence, meaning imagery, signals and cyber intercepts, dangerously fragmented during the 1999 Kargil conflict.

Service directorates

• The Revenue, Income Tax, Air Force, Army and Navy each run their own intelligence directorates.
• Each stays focused on its own domain, not the country-wide picture.
• Read more: National Security Council (NSC).

3Chapter 3: Citizens and Private Security

Good to Know

Eyes and ears

• Ordinary citizens are often called the “eyes and ears” of security agencies.
• They see things in their own neighbourhood that no camera or satellite catches.
• Local observation cannot be replaced by technology.

Private agencies

• Private security agencies supplement official security in shops, offices and residential complexes.
• They cover ground that police and paramilitary forces do not have the numbers to patrol.
• So national security also depends on public vigilance and a large private security industry.

4Chapter 4: Working With Other Countries

Good to Know

Crime crosses borders

• Terrorism, organised crime and large-scale financial fraud routinely cross borders.
• They often move faster than any one country’s legal process.
• A suspect who flees can only be brought back when the other country’s courts and government agree to extradite.
• That can take years.

The Interpol tool

• India’s CBI can request an Interpol Red Notice against a fugitive.
• A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant.
• It only asks other countries to consider provisional arrest.
• Interpol cannot force any member country to act on it.

A long case: Nirav Modi

• Nirav Modi is wanted in India over an alleged fraud of about ₹13,000 crore against Punjab National Bank.
• The CBI sought a Red Notice against him in 2018.
• He was arrested in London in March 2019 and has fought extradition ever since.
• The case shows that no single agency has jurisdiction once a suspect crosses a border.
• International legal cooperation, not just intelligence sharing, decides whether such cases conclude.

5Chapter 5: The Big Debate

Great to Know

Privacy vs surveillance

• Stronger surveillance can prevent attacks and catch criminals earlier.
• That is why every agency keeps pushing for expanded powers.
• But those powers can be misused against ordinary citizens if oversight is weak.
• That risk grew sharper after the Supreme Court read privacy into Article 21 in the 2017 Puttaswamy ruling.

A proposal that stalled

• In 2012, Home Minister P. Chidambaram proposed a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
• It would combine the NIA’s investigative role with a central intelligence hub modelled on the American NCTC.
• States including Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu opposed it.
• They argued it would encroach on “police” and “public order”, which the Constitution places in the State List.
• The proposal was put on hold after chief ministers failed to agree that same year.
• So the debate is a concrete fight over which level of government holds the power.

A quieter threat

• Espionage and counterfeiting let adversaries gather secrets or weaken trust without triggering open war.

6Chapter 6: Past Papers

Exam Point of View

Agencies and their ministries

• UPSC 2025 tested matching agencies like the Directorate of Enforcement, Revenue Intelligence and Systems & Data Management to their parent ministries.
• UPSC 2026 asked about CEIB, SFIO and CBI: which ministry controls each.
• Agency-to-ministry matching is a repeat format across UPSC, CDS and CAPF.
• Try it: Which ministry controls the CEIB?

7Chapter 7: A New IB Chief, July 2026

Current Affairs

Leadership changes

• On 1 July 2026, Mahesh Dixit, an IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, took over as Director of the Intelligence Bureau. (Source: Edunovations.)
• He succeeded Tapan Deka, whose tenure ended that June.
• Since independence, IB Directors have been IPS officers, and this appointment continues that.
• RAW’s leadership changed more recently too.
• Parag Jain, previously an Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, took over as RAW chief from Ravi Sinha.
• Knowing who leads which agency is a standard prelims question.

Quick Q&A

• CBI became CBI in? 1963.
• IB founded? 23 December 1887.
• RAW split from IB? 21 September 1968.
• NTRO approved? October 2004.
• NCTC proposed? 2012.