Fact check
oi-Deepika S.
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Updated: Saturday, June 19, 2021 12:12 pm [IST]
New Delhi, June 19: According to media reports on Friday, Indian funds in Swiss banks are declining from 6.625 billion rupees (899 million Swiss francs) at the end of 2019 to over 20.700 billion. It was also found that this is also the highest number of deposits in the past 13 years.
Media reports indicate that the reported figures are official figures that were reported by the banks to the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and do not reflect the amount of the much-discussed alleged black money from Indians in Switzerland. In addition, these statistics do not include the money that Indians, NRIs or others may have in Swiss banks on behalf of third countries, the Ministry of Finance said.
However, customer deposits have actually decreased since the end of 2019. The funds held through trustees have also more than halved since the end of 2019. The biggest increase is in “Other receivables from customers”. These are in the form of bonds, securities and various other financial instruments, the Ministry of Finance also announced.
The ministry also said it was important to point out that India and Switzerland have signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC) and both countries have also signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), according to which the Der Automatic exchange of information (AEOI) will be activated between the two countries for the annual exchange of financial account information from the 2018 calendar year.
The exchange of information on financial accounts related to residents of each country took place between the two countries in both 2019 and 2020. In view of the existing legal regulation for the exchange of information on financial accounts (which has a significant deterrent effect on tax evasion) undisclosed assets abroad), there does not seem to be any significant possibility of increasing deposits at Swiss banks from undeclared Income from Indian residents, the ministry said.
The Swiss authorities have been asked, in view of the highlighted media reports, to present the relevant facts and their opinion on possible reasons for an increase / decrease, the ministry said in a statement.
In addition, the following factors could potentially explain the increase in deposits:
- Increase in the deposits of Indian companies in Switzerland due to increased business transactions
- Increase in deposits due to the business of Swiss bank branches in India
- Increase in interbank transactions between Swiss and Indian banks
- A capital increase for a subsidiary of a Swiss company in India and
- Increase in liabilities related to the outstanding derivative financial instruments
Fact check
claim
The amount of black money held by Indians in Swiss banks has increased
Conclusion
The Treasury Department says this information is inaccurate and customer deposits have actually decreased
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