Black money war : Indians' money in Swiss banks hit record low of 676 million francs

The money parked by Indians in Swiss banks has come down to half. The amount has halved to 676 Swiss francs- around Rs 4,500 crore in 2016. This is largely due to the clampdown on black money stashed away abroad.

In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks somewhat rose to CHF 1.42 trillion or about Rs 96 lakh crore (from CHF 1.41 trillion a year ago). The total funds held by Indians directly with Swiss banks stood at CHF 664.8 million at the end of 2016, while the same held through fiduciaries was nearly USD 11 million.

The total money of Indians fell by 45% during 2016 to CHF 675.75 million, marking the biggest ever yearly decline in such funds. This included nearly CHF 377 million in form of customer deposits, about CHF 98 million owed to Indians through other banks and CHF 190 million in form of other 'liabilities'.

The funds held through fiduciaries or wealth managers alone used to be in billions till 2007 but has been falling amid fears of regulatory crackdown. The funds held by Indians with Swiss banks stood at a record high of CHF 6.5 billion at 2006-end, but has now come down to nearly one-tenth of that level in about a decade.

The quantum of these funds has been falling since then, except for in 2011 and in 2013 when Indians' money had risen by over 12% and 42%, respectively. As per the available data since 1987, the earlier lowest ever figure was recorded in 1995 at CHF 723 million. The latest data from Zurich-based SNB comes ahead of a new framework for automatic exchange of information between Switzerland and India to help check the black money menace.

While Switzerland has already begun sharing foreign client details on evidence of wrongdoing provided by India and some other countries, it has agreed to further expand its cooperation on India's fight against black money with a new pact for automatic information exchange from next year.

The funds, described by SNB as 'liabilities' of Swiss banks or 'amounts due to' their clients, are the official figures disclosed by the Swiss authorities and do not indicate to the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland.

On directions of the Supreme Court, India has also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases of alleged black money of Indians, including funds stashed abroad in places like Switzerland.

The Income Tax department had also detected over Rs 13,000 crore black money post investigations on global leaks about Indians stashing funds abroad and has launched prosecution against hundreds of entities, including those with accounts in Geneva branch of HSBC.

The issue of black money has been a matter of big debate in India and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for the illicit wealth allegedly stashed abroad by Indians. Earlier in 2015, the money held by Indians in Swiss banks had fallen by nearly one-third to CHF 1,217.6 million.

The total stood at CHF 1,814 million at the end of 2014. The total "amounts due to customers' savings and deposit accounts" fell from CHF 425.8 million at 2015-end to CHF 376.97 million, while the money held through other banks declined from CHF 270.4 million to CHF 97.8 million. The 'other liabilities' of Swiss banks towards Indian clients, which include funds held through securities etc, declined from CHF 510.4 million to CHF 190 million.

The total assets of Swiss banks in India fell from CHF 4.8 billion in 2015 to CHF 3.9 billion in 2016.