Balesh Kumar

Shri Balesh Kumar is a distinguished former Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) officer who completed over 36 years of government service before joining the Appellate Tribunal as a Member on 1 September 2022. Throughout his career, he acquired extensive expertise in indirect taxation, enforcement, policy formulation, intelligence gathering, investigations, and human resource management.

He played a pioneering role in establishing anti-smuggling formations along the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan and introduced risk-management systems to facilitate passenger clearance at international airports during India’s economic liberalization. He also established the Dedicated Courier-cum-Express Terminal at Delhi Airport in 2003. Shri Kumar made significant contributions to restructuring the Enforcement Directorate and strengthening India’s anti-money laundering framework, supporting the country’s successful evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force and its admission as a FATF member in 2010. He further served as Co-Chair of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering initiatives on money laundering and terrorist financing typologies.

His senior assignments included Member (Investigation/Information Technology) of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Principal Director General of Revenue Intelligence, and Special Director in the Enforcement Directorate. An accomplished author, he co-authored international publications on trade-based money laundering and financial crime. Awarded the President of India Medal for Specially Distinguished Service in 2004, he is also an advocate of environmental sustainability and anti-counterfeiting awareness. Academically, he holds degrees in Economics and Law and has pursued public policy studies at Syracuse University