India and Switzerland sign deal to track black money in Swiss accounts

Indian and Swiss officials signed a pact which will enable India to track black money parked on offshore accounts, mainly in Swiss Banks.

India has entered into an agreement with Switzerland under which the latter has already begun sharing information on accounts of Indian nationals in Switzerland. The Indian government’s main priority areas were to curb black money for which it took the drastic step of demonetizing 500 and 1000 RS currency notes. But a whopping 98.9 percent of the notes were returned to the banks which raised questions on the effectiveness of the drastic step. The Indian offshore are now under scrutiny to trace for black money. The Pact is expected to ease the Indian government trace the source of cash flow to prevent money laundering

“This automatic exchange of financial account information will usher a new era of financial transparency as Indian tax administration will now know the details of all bank accounts held by Indians in Switzerland,” said the government release.