Key government agencies like Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) are facing manpower crunch which is affecting investigation into financial frauds, and penalisation of wrong doing. As per a report by Parliament’s standing committee on finance, the SFIO has a high vacancy rate of 47%, especially in the investigation and prosecution wings.
For instance, out of 238 sanctioned posts at SFIO, including 127 posts under deputation, only 134 posts have been filled so far. This, according to the committee, could hinder SFIO’s capacity to manage its increasing workload.
To increase its staff strengthen and meet infrastructure expenses, the union budget had recently increased the allocation to SFIO to Rs 50.69 crore in the FY26 compared to Rs 43.01 crore in FY25.
“The high vacancy rate in its (SFIO) cadre remains a serious concern. The committee recommends that the ministry should prioritise the filling of vacant posts within SFIO to improve the performance of SFIO and full utilisation of earmarked funds. The ministry may also create a permanent cadre to reduce dependency on deputationists,” the report said.
The situation at NFRA is somewhat similar. For example, the audit regulator has just 32 of its 69 sanctioned positions filled as of FY25. To address the staffing issue and operational needs, the budget had increased the fund allocation to NFRA to Rs 47 crore in FY26 from Rs 44 crore in FY25.
“To support NFRA’s expanding role, the committee recommends accelerating the recruitment process and establishing a dedicated, permanent cadre of skilled professionals. This will be crucial to strengthening its regulatory and oversight functions. The committee stress the need for urgent action to ensure efficient utilisation of funds for NFRA’s effective functioning, especially with its growing responsibilities in overseeing public interest entities (PIEs),” the report said.
Despite getting higher allocations over the past few years, both SFIO and NFRA have not been able to fill up vacancies. For instance, in FY25, the SFIO spent over 87% of the allocated funds (until February 2025) for FY25 which is still better than just 77% fund utilisation in FY24. “The ongoing under-utilisation of funds raises concerns about resource efficiency,” the report said.