Who Is Vivek Aggarwal, 1st Indian To Serve As Global Terror Watchdog FATF's Veep

Vivek Aggarwal, a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, will serve as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) vice-president from July 2026 to June 2027. This is the first time that India has been elected to the FATF vice-president role.

His appointment marks a huge win for India and highlights its growing role in global efforts to combat terrorism financing and illicit financial networks, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a post.

Major win for India in FATF!

Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Government of India, has been elected the Vice President of the Financial Action Task Force.

As India continues to champion a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, this leadership role reinforces our relentless…

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) June 19, 2026

Who Is Vivek Aggarwal?

Currently serving as secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Aggarwal has held several key posts in the Indian government, as well as the state governments of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. In 2025, he was promoted to the Chief Secretary grade within the Madhya Pradesh cadre.

He had earlier worked as an additional secretary in the Department of Revenue, where he also served as the director of the Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND).

He is recognised for his expertise in fiscal management, public administration and policy implementation. Aggarwal has made significant contributions to areas such as revenue administration, agriculture reforms, infrastructure development and financial intelligence.

Between 2019 and 2021, Aggarwal held the post of Joint Secretary and later Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. During this period, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of PM Kisan as well as the National Farmer's Welfare Programme Implementation Society. The initiatives championed by him included the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. 

Aggarwal started off as an IAS officer in 2001 with the post of Collector and DM in Kapurthala (Punjab), Rajgarh, Ujjain and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. From 2008-2010, he served as the Managing Director of the MP Agriculture & Marketing Board and the MP Warehousing Corporation.

His posts in the state included Managing Director and Secretary PWD in the Road Development Corporation, Commissioner and State Mission Director in the Total Sanitation Campaign Smart Cities Mission AMRUT PM AWAAS and MD in the Metro Rail Corporation and Urban Development Company.

Aggarwal established the Atal Indore City Transport Service, Crystal IT Park, SEZ Indore, Super Corridor Indore, MP Metro Corporation and MP Urban Development Company.

He holds B.Com and LLB degrees from Punjab University, Chandigarh and a CS(Inter) from the Institute of Companies Secretaries of India. Aggarwal also completed a course on Globalisation and International Financial Systems from the London School of Economics.