FATF Praises India's Robust Measures Against Money Laundering and Terror Financing

In a significant development, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has concluded that India demonstrates a "high level of technical compliance" with international standards aimed at combating money laundering and terrorism financing. This announcement came following a thorough assessment conducted over the past year, which included an on-site evaluation in New Delhi by a team from the multilateral financial watchdog.

During its plenary meeting in Singapore, FATF unveiled its findings, highlighting India's effective mechanisms in countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. An unnamed official noted, "The intergovernmental organisation, which sets international anti-money laundering standards and counter-terrorist financing measures, has not found any red flags in India’s processes."

India is achieving commendable results, says FATF

The mutual evaluation report adopted by FATF assessed India's overall effectiveness in implementing these measures and its compliance with FATF recommendations. According to FATF, India's regime for anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and counter proliferation financing is achieving commendable results. This includes areas such as understanding money laundering and terrorist financing risks, international cooperation, access to ownership information, use of financial intelligence, asset deprivation from criminals, and counter-proliferation financing measures.

In its statement, FATF concluded, "India has reached a high level of technical compliance with the FATF requirements and its AML/CFT/CPF regime is achieving good results." The FATF added that “improvements are needed to strengthen the supervision and implementation of preventive measures in some of the non-financial sectors”

This positive evaluation underscores India's commitment to international standards in combating financial crimes and terrorism financing, positioning the country favourably within the global financial regulatory framework.