Black money in Swiss banks down 50% since ’06

The information on tax evaders and those who have stashed unaccounted money abroad has started trickling in, with the government admitting for the first time that total deposits of Indians in Swiss banks have come down by more than 50% in the last five years.

The total liabilities of Swiss banks towards Indians have declined in the last five years. The deposits of Indians have come down from Rs 23,000 crore in 2006 to Rs 9,000 crore in 2010. The government said this in response to a Parliament question on Tuesday. It, however, sourced its information to the Swiss National Bank.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament that the information regarding details of assets and payments received by Indians in several countries have started flowing in, which is now under different stages of processing and investigation.

"In a large number of specific cases, information has been obtained under DTAA," he said. The FM said there are other steps the government has initiated to curb tax evasion. Directorate of Transfer Pricing of the Income Tax has detected mispricing of Rs 34,145 crore in the last two years as against mispricing of Rs 14,655 crore in the last five years.

He said in order to get the black money back in the country a five-pronged strategy has been formulated by the government. The initiatives are joining the global crusade against black money; exchange of information for tax purposes with other countries; setting up of a task force on financial integrity and economic development and joining the financial action task force and other international bodies to share information.