ISLAMABAD – Pakistan stands at No 72 while India has moved up to 73rd placein terms of money parked by its citizens and companies with Swiss banks,while the UK remains on the top.

Pakistan is now placed one place higher than India at 72nd position, downone slot, after 21% dips in funds from that country in Swiss banks during2017.

India had slipped to 88th place with a 44% plunge in such funds during2016, but the latest data from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) shows an i*ncreaseof over 50%link>*during2017 to CHF 1.01 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore).

The funds, described by SNB as ‘liabilities’ of Swiss banks or ‘amounts dueto’ their clients, are official figures disclosed by Swiss authorities anddo not indicate to the exact quantum of the much-debated alleged blackmoney held in famed safe havens of Switzerland. The official figures,disclosed annually by Switzerland’s central bank, also do not include themoney that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the namesof entities from different countries.

It has been often alleged that Indians and other nationals seeking to stashtheir illicit wealth abroad use multiple layers of various jurisdictions,including tax havens, to shift the money in Swiss banks. Also, withSwitzerland putting in place an automatic information exchange frameworkwith India and various other countries, the famed secrecy walls of Swissbanks are said to have crumbled. India will start getting this automaticdata from next year, while it has already been getting information onaccounts where proof of illicit funds can be furnished.