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Indian Anti-Money Laundering Act Kicks In

Stephen Harris

5 July 2005

New Indian money laundering regulations will require banks and other financial institutions and intermediaries to keep records of all cash transactions exceeding Rs 1 million , and to disclose the information to the country's Financial Intelligence Unit, a multi-disciplinary body established by the Indian government to seek out and investigate links between suspicious or unusual financial transactions and underlying criminal activities. Under the newly implemented Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 all financial institutions will be required to keep records of every suspicious or unusual payment, even if it was not a cash transaction. The PMLA allows for custodial sentences of between 3-7 years and up to a Rs 0.5 million fine.