‘Indians have a few deposits’

Indians have “few deposits” in Swiss banks compared to other global financial hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong, says a grouping of private bankers in Switzerland amid stepped-up efforts to check the black money menace. Money held by Indians in Swiss banks declined to a record low of 1.2 billion franc (about ~8,392 crore) at the end of 2015, according to the latest official data. However, no official data are available for money in other global hubs. Committing itself to the global framework for automatic exchange of tax information, Switzerland last week ratified the decision to implement this regime with India and 40 other jurisdictions.