India-US discuss FATF cooperation as Delhi gears up to put Pakistan back on grey list

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri discussed coordination in the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) processes with US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender during his recent tour to Washington DC, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Saturday (May 31).

Misri toured the US capital from May 27 to 29 and met with senior officials of the Donald Trump administration to further deepen collaboration around the India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century.

“With Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender, the Foreign Secretary discussed ways to deepen economic and financial ties, including collaboration in international financial institutions and coordination in the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) processes,” the MEA statement said.

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Notably, this comes as New Delhi gears up to put Islamabad back on the money laundering grey list in the wake of the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to reports, India has collected enough evidence to support its claims regarding Pakistan’s support to extremists and radical Islamic terrorists who carry out attacks on Indians across the border.

India is expected to highlight the concerns around the dramatic increase in Pakistan’s defence budget despite its economy being in shambles, an indication that it may be inappropriately using funds given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to bolster its military apparatus.

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What is FATF’s grey list?

Countries on FATF’s grey list are subjected to increased monitoring and scrutiny on the financial front, which might lead to a significant drop in foreign direct investment inflows and aid approvals.

As a country is placed on the grey list, it means it has “committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring”.

As of now, 25 nations have been added to the grey list under FATF.

Pakistan was put on the grey list in 2018 by the FATF and was eventually taken off in 2022, which helped Islamabad gain access to loans and aid from global financial institutions.

India is convinced that Pakistan has failed to act on terror emanating from its territory and has been diverting funds from multilateral agencies to buy arms and ammunition, which it deploys against India when its armed forces seek to neutralise terror hideouts.