Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal (PTI photo) Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal (PTI photo)

After a report revealed that deposits by Indians in Swiss banks rose 50 per cent in 2017 over the previous year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal questioned how all the money could be assumed to be illegal.

“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?” Goyal told reporters Friday in New Delhi.

Around 40 per cent of this money is because of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), Goyal said, citing The Indian Express report. Under the scheme, an individual can remit up to USD 2,50,000 in a foreign account per year.

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

“We will have all information. If someone is found guilty, the government will take strong action against them,” the Finance Minister said.

After declining for three successive years, money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks rose 50 per cent to CHF (Swiss Franc) 1.02 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017 over the previous year.

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 data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation.

with inputs from PTI

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