Fact Check: Post claiming that money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks has increased is misleading

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A viral post on social media claims that black money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks has increased 50 per cent in last one year.

Vishvas News investigation revealed the claim is misleading. The old Swiss bank report of 2017 is viral as a recent one.

Claim

Sharing the viral post, social media user Chand Mohammad shared a newspaper clip and wrote, “The government has been robbed… Instead of bringing back the black money, the government is raising black money a record 50 per cent increase in 1 year.” The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Several users have shared the viral post with similar claims on different social media platforms.

Investigation

The viral post mentions the increase in black money deposited in Swiss banks. We searched on the Internet to verify this claim. According to The Hindu article published on 28 June 2018, “The money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks increased by 50 per cent and increased to Rs 7,000 crore in 2017. After stringent action by the Indian government against black money, the money deposited in Swiss banks had decreased for three consecutive years.”

“India is at the 74th place in the list of Swiss bank deposits. Last year, India was ranked 73rd with a jump of 15 places,” stated an article by Dainik Jagran published on 30 June 2019.

The claim has gone viral on social media even in the past and Vishvas News found it to be misleading.

In 2019, this claim was shared on social media and in subsequent investigation it was revealed that there was 6 per cent reduction in the money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks. According to data released by Swiss National Bank, the money deposited by Indians in these banks decreased to around Rs 6,757 crore in 2018, the lowest level of the decade.

In the investigation conducted in 2019, we had mentioned the report of 2017 and 2018, that the black money of Indians deposited in Swiss banks has decreased. After this claim went viral again in 2020, we checked the updated report of the status of black money deposited in Swiss banks.

In the news search, we found the report published on 26 June 2020 in the Indian Express. Accordingly, for the second consecutive year, the money of Indians deposited in Swiss banks has decreased. In 2019, the money of Indians deposited in these banks has registered a decline of 5.8 percent.

Social scanning of the Twitter user who shared the viral claim revealed that he has more than 1,000 followers and is active since June 2019.