Finance minister to overlook the details of bank accounts from switzerland

NEW DELHI: With the deposits made by Indians in the  Swiss banks surging, Piyush Goyal the finance minister on Friday wondered how all of it can be assumed to be black money, but said strong action would be taken against anyone who was to be found guilty of wrongdoing. India would start getting details of bank accounts from Switzerland under a bilateral treaty, he said.

Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50 per cent to CHF (Swiss franc) 1.01 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017.

In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks rose about 3 per cent to CHF 1.46 trillion or about Rs 100 lakh crore in 2017, according to the data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation.

India has a treaty with Switzerland under which the Swiss government would be providing all data from January 1, 2018 till December 31, 2018. India would get data as the accounting year ends, Goyal said.

Referring to the increase in Swiss bank deposits by Indians, Goyal said, "The data that you alluded to will come to us, so how are you assuming that this is black money or this is illegal transaction?"

Almost around 40 percent of this money is due to the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), Goyal said, citing media reports.

The scheme was introduced by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Under the LRS, an individual could remit up to $2,50,000 per year. "We will have all information. If someone is found guilty, the government will take strong action against them," Goyal said.