Jaitley hopes to bring back black money soon

Finance minister Arun Jaitley today said that India will not have to wait long for bringing back black money stashed away by Indians in overseas tax havens, even as he had earlier hinted at the difficulty in eking out information from Switzerland, the main tax haven.

Yet, he said, the NDA government is resolved to bring back black money. "Tax havens have started giving information on black money," he added.

"Country will not have to wait for long for bringing back black money. We are giving all information received from abroad on black money to Supreme Court"

The Swiss authorities have been refusing to share details of bank account holders saying that some names obtained by Indian authorities through other countries, namely France and Germany, figured in lists stolen by certain ex-employees of the concerned banks.

Switzerland insists that no details can be shared on the basis of illegally-obtained information.

Latest data from the Swiss National Bank showed that total money held by Indians in Swiss banks increased to Rs14,100 crore at the end of 2013, from Rs8,547 crore a year ago.

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation from Switzerland had, in February, held discussions on tax matters with the Indian government officials in New Delhi as part of the Swiss government's move to comply with international tax regulations.

Swiss Federal Tax Administration is reported to have received a total of 1,386 requests during 2013, down from 1,499 in the previous year 2012. The number of such requests stood at 370 in 2011.

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration, on the other hand, made six outgoing requests to other countries in 2013, up from two in 2012 and just one in 2011.

The BJP, however, does not seem to have any hope of the country getting back the illegally held money from these tax havens.

Participating in the debate on the Finance Bill, Nishikant Dubey, MP from Godda in Jharkhand, remarked, ''We will not be able to bring back black money from Switzerland in our lifetime.''

Citizens of Switzerland are employees who hold the trust.

''When you ask for money and names, you will seek names of Indians. There is no question of asking the name of the trustees. And if we don't then how will we get back black money from Switzerland,'' he said.