India gets first lot of Swiss bank data

For the first time ever, India has received the information about bank accounts held by its citizens in Switzerland. The first batch of account data exchange between the two countries has already taken place.

The details are of accounts that currently active as well as those that are not active anymore.

As part of the new Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) framework between the two countries, information has been shared by Switzerland’s Federal Tax Administration-FTA.

India is one of the 75 countries with which the bank account information will be shared over the years by Swiss authorities. The information exchange is covered by extremely strict confidentiality clauses. It is being considered as a major success for PM Modi and his government.

As per reports, FTA has shared information on around 3.1 million financial accounts with 75 countries and received information on around 2.4 million accounts in return.

BJP Karnataka tweeted,”In another instance where Diplomacy by PM has done wonders for the Nation, India has received first tranche of details about financial accounts of its residents in Swiss Banks. The fight against Black Money stashed abroad will be taken to the logical conclusion.”:

The FTA data contains information such as identification, account and financial information of the account holders and is expected to be used to fight against black money saved abroad.

The next exchange of data is to take place in September 2020.

“As the list of account holders in Swiss bank wil be handed over to the GOI, if possible direct the “rightly” earned after-tax income into the channels of compulsory investment. Benefiting the tax sytem, enhancing business and attracting FII. #swissbank #swiss,” tweeted a user Nilesh Sharma