On November 1, 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin led a delegation to New Delhi to meet with Indian counterparts in the Ministry of Finance including the Honorable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The purpose of the meetings was to take forward earlier, lower-level conversations regarding ways to deepen the economic partnership between the US and India (the Economic and Financial Partnership). Topics of discussion included global, US, and Indian economic outlooks, global debt sustainability, financial sector reforms, leveraging of capital flows and investment, and tackling money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Both the US and Indian delegations acknowledged the ongoing progress between the countries in a variety of areas, including increased economic cooperation, regulatory coordination and consultation on key issues such as insurance regulation, foreign portfolio investor treatment, and data localization. Also raised were India’s ongoing efforts to improve its infrastructure financing capabilities, as well as transparency and debt sustainability, and ways in which these efforts can benefit both countries’ growth potential.

The delegations also tackled the mutual desire for enhanced cooperation in addressing shared money laundering and terrorism financing concerns. Methods include information exchanges, and support for designation of specific terror funding entities.

At the conclusion of the engagement both the US and Indian delegations parted and expressed encouragement with the developments and policies discussed, and voiced hope for continued engagement to further strengthen the bilateral relationship and shared economic security.