Indian Money In Swiss Accounts Falls To Record Low: Report

Zurich: Money held by Indians in Swiss banks has fallen by nearly one-third to a record low of 1.2 billion franc (about Rs 8,392 crore) amid a continuing global clampdown on the famed secrecy wall of Switzerland's banking system.

The funds held by Indians with banks in Switzerland fell by 596.42 million Swiss francs to 1,217.6 million Swiss francs at the end of 2015, as per the latest data released today by the country's central banking authority SNB (Swiss National Bank).

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.

The funds held by Indians with Swiss banks stood at a record high of 6.5 billion Swiss francs (Rs 23,000 crore) at 2006-end.

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 1,206.71 million Swiss francs (down from 1,776 million Swiss francs a year ago), while the money held through 'fiduciaries' or wealth managers was down at 10.89 million Swiss francs (from 37.92 million Swiss francs at 2014-end). The total stood at 1,814 million Swiss francs 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 425.8 million Swiss francs (from 1,378 million Swiss francs a year ago), while the money held through other banks incidentally more than doubled to 270.4 million Swiss francs (from 100.6 million Swiss francs). The 'other liabilities' of Swiss banks towards Indian clients, which include funds held through securities etc, rose from 297 million Swiss francs to 510.4 million Swiss francs.

The latest data from Zurich-based Swiss National Bank 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 Swiss National Bank 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 Swiss National Bank data, the total money held in Swiss banks by all their foreign clients from across the world also fell by nearly 4 per cent or over 58 billion Swiss francs to 1.41 trillion Swiss francs ($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.