Is it time ‘No Money For Terror’ Conference got a permanent home in Delhi?

As India struggles to train the spotlight on Pakistan’s terror-financing infrastructure on international platforms, policymakers at home are increasingly realising that the geo-strategic priorities of world powers often do not align with India’s needs.

Hence, there is a need for a “global platform that will listen to India and act on its concerns, especially with regard to Pakistan”, said a source.

Effort to put Pakistan back on FATF grey list

India wants to bring Pakistan back in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), given its failure to curb funding to terror outfits operating from its soil under state patronage.

A diplomatic effort will be mounted in this regard twice — once during the upcoming meeting in Japan on August 25 of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, which is an FATF-style regional body, and later, in October, at the plenary of the FATF slated to be held in France.

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IMF loan after Pahalgam attack

But for India’s efforts to bear fruit, major powers should also see the need to tighten the screws on Pakistan for its funding of terror outfits. Pakistan has thrice been in the FATF grey list — from 2008 to 2009, 2012 to 2015 and 2018 to 2022. Being on the grey list makes a country’s access to any international financial assistance very difficult.

But even after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan managed to secure a loan tranche of $ 1 billion from International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), due to non-cooperation from the United States.

The US holds 17 per cent of voting power in the IMF and, for any major IMF decision, a high vote share threshold of 85 per cent is needed, which in effect gives America a veto power on a major fund disbursal.

Home for NMFT Conference

In 2022, India had thought of a way to ensure its concerns about Pakistan should not remain unheard. India had floated a proposal to provide a permanent home to the No Money for Terror (NMFT) Conference, a multinational body established with the specific purpose of curbing terror financing.

In the 2022 ministerial-level NMFT Conference held in Delhi, India proposed a permanent secretariat for the body to be established in the national capital. “The idea was to provide a permanent home to the NMFT in Delhi to ensure one of its focus areas remained Pakistan as well,” said the source.

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History of NMFT

The NMFT was launched in 2018 by France, on its own initiative, and it invited around 70 countries and other international and regional bodies to discuss mainly terror financing and ways to curb it. The launch essentially came in response to the Paris terror attacks of 2015.

France argued that even though Islamic State (IS) was waning, it, or groups loyal to it, could take root in “vulnerable regions like the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia”. France sought a multinational response to terror financing.

Following the 2018 Paris conference, NMFT has met thrice — in Melbourne in 2019, in Delhi in 2022, and in Munich in 2025.

Lost opportunity?

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on December 14, 2022, had informed Rajya Sabha that “sensing the need for permanency of this unique initiative and in order to sustain global focus on countering the financing of terrorism, the government has offered to establish a permanent Secretariat” for the NMFT Ministerial Conference, in the country.

Rai also stated that a discussion paper was to be circulated among all participating countries for their comments on it. Delegations from 77 countries and 16 multilateral organisations participated in the Delhi NMFT Conference.

But the question is whether a renewed push can be given to bring a permanent secretariat of the NMFT Conference in Delhi, or India has a lost a chance here.

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Need of the hour

Former Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, too, had articulated the need for a new platform consisting of nations from Global South, which could be led by India. She articulated it as “T20-Twenty Against Terrorism”.

She wrote in The Indian Express that international architecture for counter-terrorism — the United Nations or FATF — either lacks teeth, is entangled in geopolitical rivalries, or remains anchored in western security paradigm. She argued that T20 could supplement already existing institutions with agility, real-time coordination, and Global South-first perspective.

But the NMFT is already in existence and, by providing a permanent home to it, India can get a better voice on curbing financing of terror, which is the need of the hour after the Pahalgam attack.