New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) India held a capacity building programme for Central Asian republics in April 2025 to counter terror financing through cryptocurrencies, crowdfunding and non-profit organisations, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

In a written response, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the House that the Department of Revenue, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs and the National Security Council Secretariat, organised a first-of-its-kind Capacity Building Programme for representatives of the Central Asian Republics (CARs) on "countering the financing of terrorism through crypto-currencies, crowdfunding and non-profit organisations (NPOs)" on April 21–22, 2025 here.

The programme focused on the detection and investigation of virtual asset misuse, typologies on crowdfunding for extremist activities and regulatory and financial intelligence frameworks for monitoring NPOs, he said.

"It is to be noted that the sharing of expertise with CAR was limited to the April training, and no other sharing of expertise of any kind has been done post-training. India is sharing technical expertise with Central Asian representatives through various programmes," he said.

The minister said that hands-on sessions and closed-door consultations have been held with the CAR on financial intelligence gathering in terrorism related investigations, emerging risks from misuse of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), exploitation of crowd funding platforms, financing of radicalisation and mechanisms for risk profiling of NPOs, case studies from Indian agencies including the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"India has proposed cooperation to other regions facing similar challenges, such as terror funding, in the future. The Department of Revenue, in coordination with MEA, is organising a similar thematic capacity-building module for BIMSTEC countries, subject to diplomatic and operational coordination," the minister said.

He further mentioned that India is also a member of two regional groups on Combating Financing Terrorism (CFT) -- the Asian Pacific Group (APG) and Eurasian Group (EAG) -- engaging in cooperation through these groups from time to time, he said.

The minister noted that these initiatives reflect India's commitment to international cooperation in combating the financing of terrorism, especially emerging threats through digital means and misuse of social structures. PTI ABS ABS MPL MPL

Capacity building programme for Central Asian republics focused on countering terror financing via crypto, crowdfunding and NPO misuse. The programme trained Central Asian Republic representatives on detecting and investigating misuse of virtual assets, crowdfunding exploitation for extremist activity, and regulatory and financial intelligence frameworks for monitoring non-profit organisations, including hands-on sessions on financial intelligence gathering, risks from Virtual Asset Service Providers, crowd-funding exploitation, financing of radicalisation, and NPO risk-profiling.