PM Narendra Modi to seek support for NSG membership during his five-nation tour

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his five-nation tour later this week, which will include Switzerland, where he will push for effective bilateral mechanism to share tax-related information in keeping with the BJP government’s mission to bring back suspected black money of Indians stashed away in Swiss banks.

Switzerland has hardly been chosen by Indian PMs as a destination en route to the USA in the past, or during visits to Europe, but Modi’s trip has a clear domestic and strategic agenda.

His trip to Switzerland will have another element: Swiss support is being viewed important for India’s much desired membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

This grouping works by consensus. Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee during his just concluded trip to Beijing, asked its leadership to support India’s case after it announced to block India at NSG.

NSG plenary meeting will be held in June in South Korea where India’s membership to the body could be discussed.

Modi had promised to bring back black money from abroad during his election campaign in 2014. Preventing corruption has been his slogan in most campaigns and was the highlight of his speech at India Gate on Saturday night. This will be high on the PM’s agenda when he lands in Switzerland from Qatar en route to the USA.

Earlier this year, speaking to a media group here, Swiss envoy to India Linus von Castelmur hoped that his country would complete formalities regarding automatic exchange of tax information (AIE), following which tax authorities from the Western European country will be able to exchange information under this mechanism with their Indian counterparts.

The AIE mechanism would enable greater Indo-Swiss cooperation in this government’s fight against suspected black money in Swiss banks in future.

According to Castelmur, Switzerland has provided data of some existing bank accounts to India during the past year. Berne has also exchanged data with New Delhi on some HSBC accounts of Indians.

Meanwhile, Mexico will be Modi’s last destination in this trip. He had earlier planned to visit Mexico City at the time of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington early April following an invite but it was postponed.

Mexico is also a member of NSG. Indo-Mexican bilateral trade has grown rapidly in recent years. At $6.45 billion in 2014, it is still well below its potential and may well reach $10 billion by 2018. India is the thirdlargest buyer of Mexico’s crude oil, according to MEA data.

Investments from India in Mexico are growing. Most of the leading Indian companies have invested in facilities and plants in Mexico, taking advantage of its strategic location, large market and investment friendly policies.