Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India would receive all the data on black money from Switzerland by the end of the 2019 financial year, NDTV reported.
“So why assume this is black money or illegal transactions?” the minister asked, referring to the Swiss National Bank’s annual report, which said that money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose by more than 50% to CHF 1.01 billion (Rs 6,974 crore) in 2017.
The increase in Indian funds in 2017 reversed a downward trend in such holdings, which had begun in 2014, despite a government campaign to eliminate black money. In 2016, Indian money in Swiss banks declined by 45% to CHF 676 million (around Rs 4,670 crore), the biggest-ever plunge in a year.
Funds held by Indians in Swiss banks were at an all time high in 2006 at CHF 6.5 billion (Rs 44,900 crore) but declined to almost one-tenth of that amount in a decade, PTI reported. The rise in the holdings in 2017 was the third time it has increased since 2006.
The two countries signed a deal in December that would allow India to receive, from September 2019, financial information of accounts held by Indian residents in the European country.
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