Indians Pick Up the Swiss Challenge: Their Geneva Coffers Triple

Despite Modi Government’s Crusade, Indian Funds in Swiss Banks Soar by 240% in 2024

Author: Karan Bir Singh Sidhu, IAS (Retd), Special Chief Secretary, Punjab Cadre; M.A. (Economics), University of Manchester. Writes regularly on global economic trends, money-laundering, and India’s growth trajectory in the global financial system.

Author’s Note:

This article reflects the perspective often adopted by critics of the Modi administration on the issue of Indian funds in Swiss banks. A parallel article, authored by us and published a little earlier, presents a counterpoint to this narrative — offering a balanced, evidence-based rebuttal. For reader convenience, the link to that article is provided in the footnote.

The Startling Surge: Indian Money in Swiss Banks Triples to ₹37,600 Crore

Indian money parked in Swiss banks more than tripled in 2024, soaring to 3.54 billion Swiss francs (about ₹37,600 crore). This figure, released by the Swiss National Bank, represents a 240% surge over 2023’s four-year low of CHF 1.04 billion.

For an administration that came to power promising to wage an unrelenting war on black money and to repatriate India’s illicit wealth hidden abroad, these numbers are deeply unsettling. The sharp rise calls into question the efficacy of various policy measures introduced over the past decade.

The Shocking Numbers

A deeper analysis reveals that the bulk of these funds are not in simple personal savings accounts, but rather routed through more opaque channels:

• Customer deposits by individuals: CHF 346 million (≈ ₹3,675 crore), a modest increase of 11%.

• Funds routed via other banks: CHF 3.02 billion — an extraordinary rise from CHF 427 million in 2023.

• Fiduciary and trust holdings: CHF 41 million — quadruple the previous year’s figure of CHF 10 million.

• Bonds and other financial instruments: CHF 135 million.

Complementing this, BIS data—considered a more reliable guide to personal holdings—shows only a 6% increase in individual deposits, which stand at USD 74.8 million (~₹650 crore). The dramatic rise in institutional and bank-to-bank flows underscores the increasing complexity of cross-border money movement.

It is naïve to find solace in the fact that only about 10% of the funds appear under the “individual” category. Deft handlers of slush money—and international white-collar money-launderers often parading as elite financial consultants—routinely create multi-layered structures such as LLCs, LLPs in tax havens lacking proper disclosure, and discretionary trusts, where beneficiaries are not named in bank records but hidden in trust documents located in different legal jurisdictions.

India’s ranking in Swiss bank client standings also climbed in 2024: from 67th in 2023 to 48th, a movement that further signals India’s growing presence in these storied vaults.

Putting It in Context: India’s Banking Colossus

When compared to India’s vast domestic banking sector, these Swiss deposits might seem relatively insignificant:

• Total Indian money in Swiss banks amounts to just 0.018% of India’s ₹2,17,17,259 crore in total scheduled commercial bank deposits (March 2024 figures).

• Direct customer deposits account for a mere 0.0017% of this amount.

Yet the political significance of such a dramatic surge cannot be so easily brushed aside. It dents the narrative of an administration that had vowed to break the back of black money flows.

Legal Framework: Foreign Assets Are Legal—If Declared

The 2015 enactment of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act shifted the goalposts: holding foreign assets is perfectly legal—if disclosed.

Indian taxpayers must:

• Declare foreign assets in Schedule FA of their income-tax returns.

• Report any foreign earnings in Schedule FSI.

• Pay a flat 30% tax on undisclosed income.

• Risk penalties of up to ₹10 lakh for non-disclosure.

In fact, the government has officially admitted in Parliament (2019) that there is “no official estimation of black money in the country”—a tacit acknowledgment that firm targets for recovery were never formally set, even if heavily implied in campaign rhetoric.

Recent Compliance Trends

The picture is not entirely bleak. In November 2024, the CBDT’s compliance drive resulted in 30,161 taxpayers voluntarily declaring ₹29,208 crore in foreign assets for the assessment year 2024–25. This represents growing awareness, if not a wholesale clampdown.

Further, India has benefited from automatic exchange of information agreements with Switzerland since 2018, through which annual data on Indian account holders are shared with Indian authorities—a framework officials describe as “useful for establishing prosecution cases.”

The Black Money Act: Courtroom Limbo

Yet on the enforcement side, results remain uneven. Proceedings against Anil Ambani under the Black Money Act remain tangled in an endless web of legal wrangling, with many cases moving at a glacial pace through appeals and procedural challenges.

Meanwhile, the optics have become even more complicated by high-profile corporate activity. The ADAG Group, which once had debts totalling around ₹45,000 crore, after asset restructuring and resolution processes, is now back in business. Its subsidiary, Reliance Aerostructure Ltd, recently announced an ambitious partnership with Dassault Aviation to manufacture Falcon 2000 private jets in India—a deal unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2025.

While this is a legitimate manufacturing venture, the contrast between prolonged courtroom battles under the Black Money Act and the rapid pace of corporate reinvention remains stark.

Government Accountability and Policy Gaps

Lofty Promises vs Lean Returns

The much-circulated ₹15 lakh-per-citizen claim—though later disowned by senior BJP leaders—still lingers in public memory as one of the most potent campaign messages of 2014.

Demonetisation’s Limited Punch

Similarly, the 2016 demonetisation—pitched as a masterstroke to flush out black money—yielded mixed results. The Reserve Bank of India confirmed that 99.3% of demonetised currency was returned to the banking system, demonstrating that illicit wealth had already moved into less visible channels.

Shifting Explanations

Ministry of Finance responses to rising Swiss bank deposits have tended to shift:

• “Not all deposits are black money.”

• “Legitimate NRI and business flows are involved.”

• “Automatic data-sharing deals ensure transparency.”

While technically true, these explanations sidestep the broader policy failure to stem opaque flows into Swiss banks.

The Problem of Spin and Silence

The government has often managed public perception through narrative management, highlighting international cooperation with Switzerland while remaining silent on the massive 240% surge.

There remains a data vacuum: no official figure on the quantum of black money actually recovered has been released. In fact, the Finance Ministry itself acknowledged this in 2021.

As for the much-hyped Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, no credible, validated recovery figure exists in the public domain—even though early reports had optimistically projected ₹10,000 crore recovery from Swiss accounts.

Conclusion: A Persistent Challenge

The tripling of Indian funds in Swiss banks in 2024, even if numerically modest compared to the domestic banking system, is politically and symbolically significant.

Foreign holdings, if fully declared, are perfectly legal. But in practice, the continuing reliance on secrecy havens, discretionary trusts, and layered offshore structures shows that India’s black money challenge is far from over.

Until tax proceedings move faster, loopholes are closed, and full transparency is achieved, the government’s promise to end this “parallel economy” will remain an unfinished story—layered LLC by layered LLC, trust deed by trust deed.