Nw Delhi: Vivek Aggarwal, a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service officer just became the first Indian to hold the position of Vice President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Elected by the FATF Plenary from among member countries, he is to serve as Vice President from July 2026 to June 2027.
Aggarwal has previously served as the director of the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) which operates as an independent body under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, and has extensive experience in coordinating national and international efforts against money laundering, terrorist financing, and associated predicate offenses.
The FATF adopted India’s Mutual Evaluation Report in June 2024, placing the country in the highest “regular follow-up” category, a distinction only shared by four other G20 nations. The assessment lauded India’s robust anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks, citing its successful transition to a digital economy and high technical compliance. According to the FATF report, India demonstrated strong capabilities in international cooperation, successfully utilizing financial intelligence to recover assets and implement targeted financial sanctions. Aggarwal was instrumental in this publication as he led the Indian Delegation to the FATF in 2024, serving as an Additional Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry.
Before his FATF role, the senior bureaucrat had also held key administrative positions across the government with relation to financial regulation, policy implementation, and institutional coordination.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal termed the appointment a “major win” for India and said that the position would only strengthen the country’s continued effort to combat global terrorist financing networks.
This article is written by Hannah Judith Johnson, a student of Tezpur University, interning with Deccan Chronicle.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
