Indians' Funds In Swiss Banks Rises To Rs 20,000 Cr, Highest In 13 Years

The annual data from Switzerland's central bank has shown that funds held by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, jumped to 2.55 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 20,700 crore) in 2020.

According to PTI, the increase in aggregate funds of Indian clients with Swiss banks, from 899 million Swiss francs (Rs 6,625 crore) at the end of 2019, reverses a two-year declining trend and has taken the figure to the highest level in 13 years.

Reuters

It stood at a record high of nearly 6.5 billion Swiss francs in 2006, after which it has been mostly on a downward path, except for a few years including in 2011, 2013 and 2017, as per the Swiss National Bank (SNB) data.

Increasing again

The total amount of CHF 2,554.7 million (Rs 20,706 crore), described by the SNB as 'total liabilities' of Swiss banks or 'amounts due to' their Indian clients at the end of 2020, included CHF 503.9 million (over Rs 4,000 crore) in customer deposits, CHF 383 million (over Rs 3,100 crore) held via other banks, CHF 2 million (Rs 16.5 crore) through fiduciaries or trusts and the highest component of CHF 1,664.8 million (nearly Rs 13,500 crore) as 'other amounts due to customers' in form of bonds, securities and various other financial instruments.

Reuters

While the funds classified as 'customer account deposits' have actually declined from CHF 550 million at the end of 2019 and those through fiduciaries also more than halved from CHF 7.4 million, the money held via other banks rose sharply from CHF 88 million in this period.

The biggest difference has been a surge in 'other amounts due to customers' from India, which rose over six times from CHF 253 million at 2019-end.

Not all black money

However, it is not clear how much of these deposits are 'black money.

Reuters

The issue of black money was one of the most discussed topics during the 2014 general elections which saw the BJP coming to power with a historic mandate.

However, since coming to power the PM Narendra Modi-led government has not been able to do much to bring back the black money from Swiss banks.

BCCL

Since 2019, the Swiss authorities have been sharing information on the financial accounts of foreign nationals there with the respective countries.

The information shared by Swiss authorities include identification, account and financial information, such as name, address, country of residence and tax identification number, as well as information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance and capital income.