` 7,000cr Indian cash stashed in Swiss banks

The surge in Indian money held with Swiss banks comes as a surprise given India’s continuing clampdown on suspected black money stashed abroad, including in banks of Switzerland that used to be known for their famed secrecy walls for years.

Data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation, revealed that money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50 per cent to CHF 1.01 billion (`7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a threeyear downward trend.

This is only the third time when there has been a rise in Indians’ money in Swiss banks — in 2011 (12%), 2013 (43%) and now in 2017 by 50.2% — the maximum increase since 56 per cent way back in 2004.

In 2016, Indian money in Swiss banks had fallen by 45 per cent, marking the biggest ever yearly plunge, to `4,500 crore — the lowest ever since the European nation began making the data public in 1987.

According to the SNB data, total funds held by Indians directly with Swiss banks rose to `6,891 crore in 2017, while the same held through fiduciaries or wealth managers increased to `112 crore. These figures stood at CHF 664.8 million and CHF 11 million, at the end of 2016.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley warned that Indians having illegal deposits in Swiss banks would face harsh penal proceedings under the black money law after Switzerland starts real time sharing of details of accounts from January onwards. “The flow of information is starting in January, 2019. Any illegal depositor knows that it is a matter of months before his name becomes public,” he said.