For years, Swiss bank accounts have occupied a special place in India’s political and public imagination.
From election speeches to dinner-table debates, “Swiss bank money” has often been used as shorthand for hidden wealth and alleged black money stashed overseas.
But the latest data from Switzerland tells a more nuanced story.
The total money linked to Indian clients in Swiss fell by more than 8% in 2025 to 3.25 billion Swiss francs (around Rs 36,800 crore). At the same time, deposits held directly in customer accounts of Indian individuals and institutions jumped more than 50% during the year.
The figures, released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), once again highlight the difference between popular perception and what the data actually shows.
According to the SNB data, total funds linked to Indian clients stood at 3.25 billion Swiss francs at the end of 2025, down from 3.5 billion Swiss francs a year earlier.
The decline was mainly due to a fall in funds held through other banks and financial institutions.
Of the total amount, around 2.6 billion Swiss francs was held as “amounts due to banks”, which refers to funds parked through banking and financial institutions. This category remains the largest component of Indian-linked money in Swiss banks despite falling nearly 15% during the year.
The latest decline comes after a sharp jump in 2024, when Indian-linked funds in Swiss banks had surged three-fold to 3.5 billion Swiss francs.
While overall funds declined, deposits held directly by individual and institutional customers rose sharply.
Money parked in customer accounts increased by more than 50% to 524 million Swiss francs, or nearly Rs 6,000 crore, during 2025.
However, these deposits account for only about 16% of the total Indian-linked funds in Swiss banks.
The data suggests that while overall Indian-linked funds fell, direct customer deposits moved in the opposite direction.
Not necessarily.
This is perhaps the most important point in the entire dataset.
The Swiss National Bank has repeatedly clarified that these figures do not represent the amount of alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland.
The data includes funds belonging to individuals, companies, banks and financial institutions. It also includes money routed through branches of Swiss banks operating in India and various non-deposit liabilities.
Moreover, the figures do not include funds that may be held through third-country entities or complex international structures.
Swiss authorities have consistently maintained that assets held by Indian residents in Switzerland cannot automatically be treated as black money.
The Swiss bank secrecy story is also very different from what it was a decade ago.
Since 2018, India and Switzerland have been part of an automatic exchange of information framework under which financial account details of Indian residents are shared with Indian tax authorities every year.
The first such exchange took place in September 2019 and has continued annually since then.
In addition, Swiss authorities have shared information in hundreds of cases involving suspected financial wrongdoing after receiving evidence from Indian authorities.
This means Swiss banking is no longer the opaque system it was once perceived to be.
India remains far from being one of the biggest sources of foreign money in Swiss banks.
The United Kingdom topped the list with 192 billion Swiss francs, followed by the United States with 75 billion Swiss francs and France with 63 billion Swiss francs.
India ranked 46th globally in 2025, improving from 48th place a year earlier.
Among India’s neighbours, Pakistan saw its Swiss bank-linked funds decline to 257 million Swiss francs, while Bangladesh recorded a sharp 43% increase to 842 million Swiss francs.