India, Switzerland working 'very closely' on tax info exchange

Switzerland disclosed names of over dozen Indians amid suspicion of Indian govt that their accounts in Swiss banks were being used for stashing illicit money

India and Switzerland are working "very closely" on sharing of information related to tax matters on suspected illicit money cases, a top Swiss official said today.

Swiss Ambassador to India Linus von Castelmur also said automatic exchange of tax information between India and Switzerland is expected to happen "rather soon".

"Switzerland and India are working very closely (on information exchange on tax matters)... We have received requests for exchange for information from Indian authorities," he told reporters here.

In recent months, Switzerland has disclosed names of more than a dozen Indians about whom information has been sought by the Indian government amid suspicion that their accounts in Swiss banks were being used for stashing illicit money.

Swiss banks, known for their banking secrecy practices, have come under global pressure as countries, including India, are ramping up efforts to crack down on the black money menace.

According to Castelmur, Swiss government had given information to India with regard to the HSBC case.

A leaked list of hundreds of Indian clients of HSBC's Geneva branch had found its way to the Indian tax authorities, which are probing the matter.

Describing automatic information exchange "future music", Castelmur said both sides are working towards it.

There should be a bilateral arrangement where both sides can commit to proceed with automatic information exchange, he added.

"There was a past and we are overcoming it through cooperation," he said and stressed with increased cooperation, cases would become "more and more seldom".

In January, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had met his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos.

Maurer had said the bilateral cooperation on tax matters in terms of sharing information on suspected black money cases would continue at "a good level".