Deposits by Indians in Swiss bank accounts down 80% during NDA tenure: Report

New Delhi: The amount of deposits by Indian individuals and corporates in Swiss banks had declined by 80% during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the government said on Tuesday.

The Swiss government had clarified that the correct measure to look at deposits held by Indians was the locational banking statistics collected by the Bank of International Settlements, the government said, adding that these statistics showed non-bank loans and deposits held by Indians in Swiss banks had declined to $524 million in 2017 from $800 million in 2016 and $2.6 billion in 2013.

Bringing back black money was one of the major election promises of the NDA and data backing the success of its initiatives will help in its electoral prospects ahead of the general elections due in 2019.

The NDA has been on the defensive after media reports quoting statistics from the Swiss National Bank said deposits by Indians in Swiss bank accounts rose 50% in 2017. This ran counter to the government’s anti-black money drive and saw opposition parties questioning the efficacy of the government’s initiatives.

The government said Swiss Ambassador Andreas Baum had clarified in a letter to Finance Minister Piyush Goyal that all assets held by Indian residents in Switzerland were not undeclared. The data provided by the Swiss National Bank includes non-deposit liabilities, business of Swiss branches located in India, inter-bank transactions and fiduciary liability and hence it may not be a correct measure.

It had instead suggested using the locational banking statistics, the government said. Locational banking statistics measure international banking activity by residence and captures around 95% of all cross-border banking activity.

The government added that through an information exchange agreement signed last December, India and Switzerland had started collecting data from 1 January 2018 and would start exchanging it from September 2019.