NEW DELHI: Indian funds in Switzerland banks have grown by 50% to 3.83 billion Swiss francs or Rs 30,626 crore in 2021, recording a 14-year high, according to the latest report by Switzerland Central Bank. Indians had parked 2.5 billion Swiss franc in Swiss banks till 2020.
In 2007, the figure stood at 2.92 billion Swiss franc. The money parked in Swiss banks has always been linked to black money being parked outside India. After a series of anti-black money measures – including an amnesty scheme in 2015 to declare undeclared foreign assets – the Narendra Modi government had claimed that it has managed to tame the menace of black money parked abroad.
Even data buttressed the government claims as Indian funds parked in Swiss banks halved from 1.2 billion Swiss franc in 2015 to 665 million Swiss franc in 2016. In 2019, Indian funds in Swiss banks stood at 892 million Swiss francs. However, since then the trend has reversed.
In 2020, funds in Swiss banks nearly trebled to 2.5 billion Swiss francs. Last year, the government came up with a clarification saying the customer deposits have actually fallen from the end of 2019. However, this year the government may not have the same excuse as data shows that customer deposits have risen from 503 million Swiss francs in 2020 to 602 million Swiss francs in 2021. Other amounts due to customers have also rised from 1.6 billion Swiss franc to 2 billion swiss franc.