India seeks targeted economic sanctions to curb terror funding

The Paris attacks claimed by ISIS are a “grim reminder” that terrorists have become very flexible in meeting their funding requirements, according to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Disrupting fund flow constrains the capabilities of terrorists and reduces their ability to execute attacks," Modi said at an Indian anti-corruption conference Tuesday.

"This involves putting in place both systemic safeguards, and targeted economic sanctions based on credible counter-terrorism intelligence," said the Prime Minister, adding that "there is an imperative need to focus our efforts to enhance international co-operation in the field of asset recovery for fighting crime, corruption and terrorism."

Globalization of organized crime is a great threat to the global economy and undermines fair business, according to Modi.

"Organized crime can hamper investment and economic growth. It can also infiltrate or control a large section of economy. Illicit funding promotes organized criminal activities like drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism," he said.

At present, countries are limited by national boundaries and India is doing everything possible to hasten the adoption of a uniform global standard on Automatic Exchange of Information on a fully reciprocal basis, said Modi.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that according to Russian intelligence on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) the jihadists appear to be financed from 40 countries, including some G20 members.