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The Union Finance Ministry on Saturday, 19 June, said that increase in deposits of Indians in Swiss Banks could be on account of increase in business of Swiss bank branches located in India and raised Inter-bank transactions, rather than due to an increase in alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland.
This comes after news agency PTI reported that funds held by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks rose to Rs 20,700 crore, or 2.55 billion Swiss francs in 2020, a day earlier. This includes funds through India-based branches and other financial institutions.
Holdings via securities and similar instruments saw a sharp surge, but customer deposits fell, annual data from Switzerland’s central bank revealed on Thursday, 17 June.
This data reported by banks to the SNB does not indicate the amount of alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland, and it does not include the funds held by Indians, NRIs, or others under names of third-country entities.
The statement added that the customer deposits have actually fallen from the end of 2019 in a Swiss Banks. The funds held through fiduciaries has also more than halved from end of 2019.
The biggest increase is in "Other amounts due from customers". These are in form of bonds, securities and various other financial instruments, the finance min statement said.
The ministry also ascribed various other reasons for increase in deposits and not possibly on account of the increase of deposits in the Swiss banks out of undeclared incomes of Indian residents.
It said that that increase in deposits may be on account if increase in deposits owing to the business of Swiss Bank branches located in India or Increase in Inter – bank transactions between Swiss and Indian Banks.
This Rs 20,706 crore amount (CHF 2,554.7 million), which is the ‘total liabilities’ of Swiss banks, or the ‘amounts due to’ Indian clients at the end of 2020, includes:
The data reveals that money held via other banks has seen a sharp surge from CHF 88 million at the end of 2019. On the other hand, customer account deposits have fallen from CHF 550 million at the end of 2019, and fiduciaries have more than halved from CHF 7.4 million, PTI reported.
The biggest rise can be seen in ‘other amounts due to customers’, which increased more than six-fold from CHF 253 million at the end of 2019, the report added.
Overall customer deposits in all Swiss banks rose to nearly CHF 2 trillion in 2020, including CHF 600 billion in foreign customer deposits, PTI reported.
With the UK topping the charts for foreign clients’ funds at CHF 377 billion, the USA followed with CHF 152 billion. West Indies, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas also featured in the top 10, the report added.
India stood 51st on this list, below China and Russia, but above South Africa and Brazil among the BRICS nations. India also placed ahead of countries like New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Mauritius, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
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