The Indian tax authorities have offered an amnesty to more
than 100 citizens who evaded taxes via Swiss bank accounts held at HSBC, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed
government official.

The country’s income tax department has agreed not to start
criminal proceedings or levy a penalty if the Indians repatriate the money from
Geneva and pay
the taxes, the official said. The official declined to name anyone on the list,
the report said.

A number of countries, such as the UK, US and Germany
are pursuing high net worth individuals who have stashed undisclosed money in
offshore accounts in centres such as Switzerland.

The amnesty offer in India
is being made to some people who were on a list of 700 citizens with HSBC
accounts in Geneva
that was given to the South Asian nation’s government by French authorities
last year, the official said, without providing additional details. The
government is still investigating other people on that list, the news service
quoted the government official as saying.

The news service said that HSBC declined to comment on the
issue.

The French authorities obtained data on accounts held at
HSBC in Geneva
after a bank employee, Herve Falciani, stole information connected to at least
24,000 current and former clients, HSBC said in March 2010.

The news service said India loses $250 billion from tax
evasion every year.