Money parked by Indian individuals and entities in Swiss banks fell by nearly 6% in 2018 to 955 million Swiss francs (Rs 6,754 crore), the second-lowest level in over two decades, PTI reported on Friday citing data published by the Swiss National Bank on Thursday. The annual banking statistics showed that the total funds of all foreign clients of Swiss banks also fell to CHF 1.4 trillion (Rs 99 lakh crore), a decline of more than 4%.
The Swiss National Bank’s total liabilities towards Indian clients takes into account deposits from individuals, banks and enterprises in India. However, the official figures with the Swiss National Bank do not include money that Indians or NRIs might have invested in the names of entities from different countries.
The locational banking statistics of the Bank for International Settlement showed a fall of 11% in Indian deposits in 2018, PTI reported.
Funds held by Indians in Swiss banks were at an all time high in 2006 at CHF 6.5 billion (Rs 45,650 crore) but declined to almost one-tenth of that amount in a decade. In 2017, the Swiss National Bank said Indian deposits in Swiss banks had increased 50% over the previous year to reach CHF 1.01 billion (Rs 7,142 crore).
Former Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had defended the figures in the face of Opposition criticism, saying that India would receive all information on black money from the Swiss government by the end of the 2019-’20 financial year. India and Switzerland had signed a deal in December 2017 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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