Discussion on India's Progress in Financial Action Task Force Plenary in Mexico
INDIA joined the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as its 34th member in June 2010. At present FATF has 36 members comprising of 34 countries and two organizations namely, the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council. At the time of joining FATF, India gave an Action Plan to overcome certain deficiencies in a time bound manner. The items of the Action Plan were divided into Immediate, short term and Medium term items, which were to be completed by 30.6.2010, 31.3.2011 and 31.3.2012 respectively. India has completed the Immediate and Short term Action Plan items within the stipulated time and the same have been acknowledged by the FATF technical onsite team which visited India in April 2011.
India is participating in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary and working group meetings being held in Mexico City, Mexico from 20-24 June 2011. The plenary meeting discussed India's Follow up Report of the FATF technical onsite team which visited India in April 2011 to assess India's fulfillment of its Short term Action Plan and if it is on track to fulfill its Medium term commitments. The FATF secretariat commended India's commitment to a strong Anti Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and acknowledged that India has made significant progress on all action points as per the time schedule. This view was shared by the FATF Plenary.
It may be noted that ‘ The Financial Action Task Force' (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Task Force is therefore a "policy-making body" which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
The FATF monitors members' progress in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In performing these activities, the FATF collaborates with other international bodies involved in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.