Zurich: There is more good news for the Narendra Modi government which two year ago swept to power on the plank of good governance, strong economy and bringing back black money stashed by Indians in Swiss banks.
According to Switzerland’s central banking authority SNB (Swiss National Bank) data, money deposited by Indian nationals in Swiss banks has dropped by nearly one-third, since the year 1997, to a record low of 1.2 billion franc (CHF) or Rs 8,392 crore.
This is the lowest amount of funds held by Indians in the Swiss banks, ever since the Alpine nation began making the data public in 1997, and marks the second straight year of decline.
Funds held directly by Indians dropped to 1,207 million Swiss franc, while money held through fiduciaries hit a record low of 10.9 million franc, PTI reported today, adding that the funds held by Indians with banks in Switzerland fell by CHF 596.42 million to CHF 1,217.6 million at the end of 2015.
The funds held by Indians with Swiss banks stood at a record high of CHF 6.5 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) at 2006-end, it said.
However, the quantum of these funds has been falling since then, except for in 2011 and in 2013 when Indians' money had risen by over 12 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively.
At the end of 2015, the total funds held in Swiss banks by Indians directly stood at CHF 1,206.71 million (down from CHF 1,776 million a year ago), while the money held through 'fiduciaries' or wealth managers was down at CHF 10.89 million (from CHF 37.92 million at 2014-end). The total stood at CHF 1,814 million at the end of 2014.
This is the lowest-ever level of funds held through fiduciaries, which used to be in billions till 2007 but has been falling amid fears of regulatory crackdown.
The total "amounts due to customers' savings and deposit accounts" fell to CHF 425.8 million (from 1,378 million a year ago), while the money held through other banks incidentally more than doubled to CHF 270.4 million (from CHF 100.6 million). The 'other liabilities' of Swiss banks towards Indian clients, which include funds held through securities etc, rose from CHF 297 million to CHF 510.4 million.
The latest data from Zurich-based SNB comes at a time when Switzerland has begun sharing foreign client details on evidence of wrongdoing provided by India and other countries.
It has agreed to further expand its cooperation on India's fight against black money and expects to sign a new pact for automatic information exchange 2018 onwards. Besides, a team of Indian officials are expected to visit Switzerland soon to expedite the pending information requests about suspected illicit accounts of Indians in Swiss banks.
The funds, described by SNB as 'liabilities' of Swiss banks or 'amounts due to' their clients, are the official figures disclosed by the Swiss authorities and do not indicate to the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland.
SNB's official figures also do not include the money that Indians or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries.
As per the SNB data, the total money held in Swiss banks by all their foreign clients from across the world also fell by nearly four per cent or over CHF 58 billion to CHF 1.41 trillion ($ 1.45 trillion or about Rs 98 lakh crore).
On directions of the Supreme Court, India has also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases of alleged black money of Indians, including funds stashed abroad in places like Switzerland.
As per the latest data, the Income Tax department has detected over Rs 13,000 crore black money post investigations on global leaks about Indians stashing funds abroad and has launched prosecution against over 200 entities, including those with accounts in Geneva branch of HSBC.
The taxmen are said to have detected Rs 8,186 crore of undisclosed income against those whose names figured in the HSBC Geneva list that was obtained by India in 2011 through the French government.
Out of the total 628 cases under this list, the department got "actionable" evidence in 415 cases and assessments have been completed in 398 cases.
The department has filed 164 prosecution complaints in 75 of the HSBC cases before various courts in the country.
Taxmen have also initiated proceedings for penalty imposition in 159 HSBC cases (out of total 398) which amounts to Rs 1,282 crore, it said.
A number of strategies have been deployed by the government to combat the stash-funds menace, in both overseas and domestic domain, which include enactment of a new law to tackle stashing of black money abroad, amendments in the anti-money laundering Act and compliance windows for people to declare their hidden assets.
With PTI Inputs
