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The Ministry of Finance responds to the gain of Indian funds in the Swiss Bank

The Ministry of Finance responds to the gain of Indian funds in the Swiss Bank

On Friday, it was reported that the Indian funds gained around Rs 20,700 crore in the Swiss Bank. On this regard, the Ministry of Finance in India debunked the alleged increase of black money posed by Indians in Switzerland. In an official release, the Finance Ministry notified that the figures did not indicate the ‘quantum of the black money’ owned by the Indians, claiming that the biggest rise has been cited under ‘Other amounts due from customers’, that refers to bond, securities and several other financial institutions.

The Finance ministry further stated, “Media reports allude to the fact that the figures reported are official figure reported by banks to Swiss National Bank (SNB) and do not indicate the quantum of much debated alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland.” Furthermore, the Ministry added that these statistics do not count the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in the Swiss Bank in the name of third country entities.

On the grounds of decline in customer deposits from the year 2019, the Ministry put forward that the funds placed through fiduciaries has also more than halved from the end of 2019. It too stated that exchange of Financial Account information in respect to the residents of the countries have taken place between India and Switzerland in the year 2019 and 2020. It affirmed that based on the information exchange, ‘there does not appear to be any significant possibility of the increase of deposits in the Swiss Bank which is out of undeclared income of Indian residents’.

According to news report, the Centre has requested the Swiss Authorities to bring forth the relevant facts along with their views on possible reason for the increase/decrease in the Indian Funds.

Earlier, PTI reported that funds placed by Indian Individuals and firms in the Swiss Bank has increased to 2.55 billion Swiss franc (around Rs 20,700 crore) in the year 2020 through the sharp rise in holdings via securities and similar instruments. The annual data report from the Switzerland central bank stated that while the customer deposits declined, there was a rise in aggregate fund of Indian Clients with the Swiss Bank.

As per reports, the gain in Indian funds from 899 million Swiss franc (Rs 6,625 crore) at the conclusion of the year 2019, overturn a two year diminishing trend taking the figure to the highest level considering the past 13 years.

Bhaswati Sengupta

Bhaswati Sengupta is a student in Media Science. An aspiring journalist and media enthusiast with determination, dedication and communication skills. Bhaswati is currently working as an intern at IndiaShorts.Com. She can be reached at news@indiashorts.Com.