India, U.S. agree to share information on terrorists

India and the United States have agreed to share information on terrorists, said local media Friday.

Indian Home Ministry and the United States officials signed an agreement on Thursday to join the global terror database maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) of the U.S., according to media reports.

This was agreed upon by the two sides days ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to U.S. on June 7 and 8.

"An arrangement between the authorized governmental agencies of the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America for exchange of terrorist screening information was signed here today. The arrangement was signed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Richard Verma, Ambassador of the United States of America to India," a press statement issued by the Home Ministry said.

Under this arrangement, both sides will give each other access to terrorism screening information through designated contact points, subject to domestic laws and regulations, said the statement.

The proposal was initially made by the U.S. in 2012, but had made little progress due to objections raised by security agencies.

India's two major intelligence and counter-espionage agencies, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), had opposed giving the United States unhindered access to the database of terror suspects in India, according to local daily The Hindu. Enditem