Indian money in Swiss banks rise for 1st time in 5 years

The total funds held by Indian individuals and entities include 2.025 billion Swiss francs held directly by them and 158 million held through 'fiduciaries' or wealth managers, shows the latest data disclosed by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in its annual handbook on Swiss banks published today.

The funds, described by SNB as 'liabilities' of Swiss banks towards their clients from India, are the official figures disclosed by the Swiss authorities and do not indicate towards the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland.

Also, SNB's official figures do not include the money that Indians or other nationals might have in Swiss banks in the names of others. While there is no official estimate for such unaccounted funds, but some estimates put it as high as 20-25 billion dollars.

As per the data from SNB, Switzerland's central bank, the quantum of funds held by Indians in Swiss banks had last increased in 2006 by about one billion Swiss francs to 6.5 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 40,000 crore), but fell to less than one-third by the end of 2010. It rose by about Rs 3,500 crore in 2011.

In a White Paper on black money tabled in Parliament last month, the Indian government had also mentioned that the total liabilities of Swiss banks towards Indians have been coming down since 2006 and fell by more than Rs 14,000 crore during the 2006-2010 period.

The liabilities stood at Rs 9,295 crore at the end of 2010, compared to Rs 23,373 crore in 2006.