Indian money in Swiss banks fell 34.5% in 2017: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Indian deposits in Swiss banks declined 34.5 per cent in 2017 from a year ago and by 80 per cent since 2013, the government has said, citing data provided by the Switzerland government that refuted recent reports that such deposits had risen 50 per cent last year.

Finance minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday told Rajya Sabha that he had discussed the issue with Swiss authorities who gave a written reply saying media reports last month misinterpreted Swiss National Bank (SNB) data to claim money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose to CHF 1.01 billion, or Rs 7,000 crore, in 2017 after falling for three consecutive years.

The finance minister accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of misleading the nation and hurting its image internationally. “I think Rahul Gandhi should explain to the nation why he is maligning the image of the country on baseless report,” he told reporters outside Parliament.


Deposits in Swiss banks for long have been considered black money in popular Indian discourse. “They say more often than not, the media reports have not taken into account the way the figures have to be interpreted, which has resulted in misleading headlines and analysis. This is (the Swiss) government response,” the finance minister said.

Swiss National Bank data includes non-deposit liabilities, business of Swiss branches located in India, inter-bank transactions and fiduciary liability.

The Swiss authorities have told India, according to their communication released by the government, the more reliable data source for deposits held in Switzerland is the Locational Banking Statistics (LBS) of Bank of International Settlements.

LBS measures international banking activity from a residence perspective, focusing on the location of banking office and captures around 95 per cent of all crossborder banking activity.

This data shows that Indian deposits in Swiss banks have fallen by 34.5 per cent to $524 million in 2017 from $800 million in 2016, and by 80.2 per cent between 2013 and 2017.

“This data source shows that the liabilities in the form of loans and deposits of Swiss-domiciled banks towards Indian nonbanks decreased by 44 per cent between 2016 and 2017,” said a non-paper to Goyal by Swiss ambassador Andreas Baum.

The finance minister said the automatic exchange of information based on common reporting standard has commenced from 2017 with many countries, which will enable India to receive financial account information of Indian residents.

“This will also be useful in bringing the unaccounted income and assets to tax,” he said, adding that the Narendra Modi government has taken a series of measures against black money and the world was acknowledging its efforts.

These steps included setting up of a special investigation team on black money soon after taking office and a new law making non-disclosure of overseas assets a punishable offence.

It also inked fresh treaties with Switzerland for sharing for information and amended those with Mauritius and Singapore to curb round-tripping.