DNA Edit: Swiss roulette - Indian bank account holders may be in trouble

Banks in Switzerland, once regarded for their secrecy, are quite prepared to break down barriers in an effort to re-establish their pre-eminent position as the world’s global financial centre.

That could hardly be good news for Indians with bank accounts in Switzerland. There is a recent surge in the number of cases where banks have initiated the process to share information on Indians with Swiss bank accounts. The letter has been shot off to about a dozen such individuals last week.

Since March this year, at least 25 notices have been issued by Swiss authorities to Indian clients of Switzerland-based banks in which they have been given one last chance to appeal against sharing of their details with India. An analysis of the notices issued by the Federal Tax Administration, that government’s nodal department for sharing of information on foreign clients of Swiss banks, shows that the government has stepped up its efforts in sharing such details with a number of countries in the recent months, but the surge in India-related cases is noticeable in the past few weeks. Which may not be surprising.

Last year, it was reported that money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50 per cent to Swiss Francs (CHF) 1.01 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India’s clampdown on suspected black money stashed there.

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 official annual data released on June 28 by Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation. The surge in Indian money held with these banks comes as a surprise, given New Delhi’s continuing clampdown on suspected black money stashed abroad, including in Swiss banks. The key question to ask is whether the noose around some is closing?