Money parked by Indian individuals and enterprises in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches, fell by nearly 6 percent in 2018 to 955 million Swiss francs (about Rs 6,757 crore) to hit its second-lowest level in over two decades, Swiss National Bank data showed Thursday.
Aggregate funds of all foreign clients of Swiss banks alsofell by over 4 per cent to CHF 1.4 trillion (nearly Rs 99 lakh crore) in 2018,as per the annual banking statistics released by the Zurich-based centralbanking authority of Switzerland.
However, the ‘locational banking statistics’ of the Bank forInternational Settlement (BIS), which the Indian and Swiss governments had saidlast year was a more reliable measure for deposits by Indian individuals inSwiss banks, showed a greater fall of 11 per cent for 2018.
According to the SNB, its data for ‘total liabilities’ ofSwiss banks towards Indian clients takes into account all kinds of funds of Indiancustomers at Swiss banks, including deposits from individuals, banks andenterprises. This includes data for branches of Swiss banks in India, as alsonon-deposit liabilities.
The funds, described by the SNB as ‘liabilities’ of Swissbanks or ‘amounts due to’ their clients, are the official figures reported bythe banks and do not indicate the quantum of the much-debated alleged blackmoney held by Indians there.
The official SNB figures also do not include the money thatIndians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities fromdifferent countries.
The SNB data had shown the total liabilities of Swiss bankstowards Indian clients rising by over 50 per cent in 2017 to CHF 1.01 billion(Rs 7,000 crore), reversing a three-year downward trend.
However, the quantum of such funds has fallen again in 2018to CHF 954.71 million, which includes about CHF 15 million held throughfiduciaries or wealth managers. This is the second-lowest total since CHF 723million recorded over two decades ago in 1995. The lowest ever amount of CHF675 million, ever since Switzerland began making the data public in 1987, wasrecorded in 2016.
As per the latest figures, the total customer deposits ofIndian clients rose to CHF 572 million in 2018, but funds held through banksfell to CHF 104 million, while money parked through securities and otherinstruments and via fiduciaries also declined.
On the asset side, Swiss banks saw a marginal increase inthe amount due from their Indian customers to CHF 212 million (from CHF 210million in 2017).In comparison, the BIS data showed that thetotal amount outstanding to non-bank or individual Indian clients of Swissbanks fell to USD 84.6 million at the end of 2018 (by 11 per cent from USD 94.8million at the end of 2017). The fall was much larger at 44 per cent during2017.