India intends to exert pressure on Switzerland to abide by its obligations under the recently adopted Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters.

New Delhi will continue to urge Switzerland to ratify the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement on Monday.

Declaration The declaration adopted by 46 countries, including India, at a meeting on May 6 under the auspices of OECD, recognises that investments kept offshore by taxpayers should not go untaxed.

It has referred the matter to the Multilateral Convention and called upon all countries to sign and ratify this convention.

The Multilateral Convention was signed by over 60 countries, including almost all OECD and G20 countries.

Although Switzerland was a signatory to the Convention, it was reported that it had not yet ratified it.

India had signed the Convention and is also a signatory to the Declaration adopted on May 6.

“Efforts made by India and other OECD/G-20 countries are bearing fruit.

“I believe that the day is not far off when all major financial centres will be parties to an effective exchange of information on automatic basis,” the statement quoted Chidambaram as saying.

Talking tough India has recently been talking tough to Switzerland.

It recently warned Switzerland that reluctance to share tax-related information may impact economic cooperation between the countries.

India is pursuing Switzerland to share information on certain accounts held by some Indians in HSBC’s Swiss branches.

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