Black money, tax evasion shared priority of India and Switzerland: PM Modi

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Indian tax authorities are likely to achieve better results in digging out details of Indian black money stashed in foreign banks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Switzerland Johann Schneider-Ammann, on Monday, mutually agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating tax evasion and tackling Indian black money hidden in Swiss banks.

"Combating the menace of black money and tax evasion is also our shared priority,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a joint press statement with Switzerland President Johann Schneider-Ammann.

"We discussed the need for an early and expeditious exchange of information to bring to justice the tax offenders. An early start to negotiations on the agreement on the automatic exchange of information would be important in this respect," Modi added. 

"India and Switzerland are making considerable progress in fighting tax fraud and evasion," President of Switzerland Johann Schneider-Ammann said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Switzerland on Monday on the third leg of his five-nation tour and held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Stepping up ties in areas of trade, investment and vocational training was also focus of talks between the two leaders. PM Modi also invited Swiss companies to be a key partner in India's economic growth. 

The NDA government has not been successful in bringing back dollops of black money back to the country as promised by the party in its pre-poll agenda. The new Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 haven't brought out great results.

The government managed to detect just Rs 4,164 crore of foreign money of Indian origin through the compliance window under the new Act that came into force from July 1, 2015.

From Switzerland, Modi will travel to the US and then to Mexico before returning to India.