Finance minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday asserted that Indian deposits in Swiss banks fell by 34.5 per cent in 2017 and by 80 per cent since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014.
Rebutting earlier reports which quoted the Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, as saying in its annual report that Indian deposits had risen by 50 per cent in 2017, Goyal told Rajya Sabha during question hour that he discussed the issue with Swiss authorities, who told him in a written reply that media reports "have not taken account of the way the (SNB) figures have to be interpreted."
"The Swiss Authorities say that the figures published by the Swiss National Bank are regularly mentioned by the Indian media as a reliable indicator of the number of assets held with Swiss financial institutions in respect of Indian citizens. They clarify how this is wrong. They say more often than not, the media reports have not taken into account the way the figures have to be interpreted which has resulted in misleading headlines and analysis. This is (the Swiss) government response,” he said.
The minister also said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been levelling baseless allegations that money of Indians in Swiss Banks have increased by 50 per cent from last year. He said that the Swiss government has refuted Rahul Gandhi’s claim. “He (Rahul Gandhi) is habituated to speak without knowing the truth. We saw how he was exposed by the French government,” he added.