India’s fight against black money got a big thumbs—up today, with the global inter—government body FATF saying that the country has substantially addressed deficiencies in its regulatory checks against money laundering and terror financing activities.

Paris—based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) also said that India has significantly stepped up its probes into suspected money laundering and terror funding cases, although a low conviction rate remains a matter of serious concern.

FATF sets global standards for Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations for governments across the world, while India has been its member since 2010.

With a substantial improvement in India’s regulatory provisions, FATF also decided to remove the country from its regular follow—up process for determining its compliance to the global AML/CFT standards. India was put under this follow— up process in June 2010, when several gaps were noticed in its regulatory regime.

The move would help India get greater support from international authorities in its fight against black money and check the illicit flow of funds from and to the country.

In its 46—page status report on progress made by India on improving its AML/CFT regulatory regime, FATF lauded the efforts made by regulators such as RBI, SEBI and IRDA, as also the Finance Ministry, to ring—fence various financial activities from the money laundering and terror funding risks.

It, however, observed that further efforts might be required for regulating casinos and non—profit organisations.

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