Fast identification and classification of the faults in distribution network is a crucial task to ensure reliable power supply to the end user. This paper presents a protection scheme which makes use of Empirical Mode Decomposition of three phase current signals of a distribution network. The current signals measured at the substation bus over a moving window of one cycle are decomposed to obtain first level intrinsic mode function IMF1 and residue R1. A fault index which is nothing but the absolute mean of R1 is calculated for each phase and compared with a threshold to detect and categorize the type of fault. The proposed algorithm has been successfully tested on IEEE 13 bus system by varying the type of fault, fault incidence angle and fault location. The selectivity of the proposed scheme has been established by testing the algorithm with non faulty transients such as load switching and capacitor switching. © 2018 IEEE.