'Islamic Finance in India can attract investments from Middle East'

'Islamic Finance in India can attract investments from Middle East' Monday January 16, 2012 06:56:52 PM, ummid.com Staff Reporter

Malegaon: Taking advantage of the situation arising out of the economic crisis in Eurozone and countries like United States, India should adopt the Islamic Finance System to pump-in investments from the Middle East. This interest-free and more inclusive system will in turn speed-up the financial inclusion of the Indian Muslims, an expert in Islamic Finance said in Malegaon Sunday. "The Global Economic Crisis in the West is forcing investors to search for secure places of investment. Creating a situation which is suitable for such investors especially those from the Middle East can pump in huge investment in the country. Introduce the interest-free alternate financial system here and see how the funds start flowing from the oil-rich countries to India", Dr. Shariq Nisar said while speaking to ummid.com. Dr Shariq Nisar, Director of Research and Operations of India’s premier shariah advisory firm TASIS and one of the senior most professionals of Islamic Finance in India, was in Malegaon on Sunday to address a seminar on "Prospects of Islamic Finance in India". "China and the Middle East are the two areas in the world where surplus funds more than their requirements are generated. China will never like to invest in India for the obvious reasons. We do not have such problems with the Arab World. We can attract the investors from there by introducing the Islamic Finance in our country", he said while pointing at the requirements in the country of reliable and committed investors in stock market, and banking and insurance sectors. "And why not, the system is running successfully in more than 75 countries. It has also earned these countries rich dividends. Then why are we reluctant in taking a decision?", he asked while listing the countries like United States, United Kingdom, France and others besides the Muslim countries where Islamic Banking System is successfully running. “Almost all the top multinational banks including Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, DBS, Barclay and others either have their full-fledged Islamic banks or have special windows in their branches - some located in the areas where Muslim population is negligible”, he said adding, "Singapore has in fact taken the lead to introduce the system in the Asian sub continent by opening The Islamic Bank of Asia”. Linking the Islamic Finance with the empowerment of the Indian Muslims, he said, "The much sought after Muslim empowerment and their financial inclusion can also be achieved by bringing in the system here. For, a vast majority of the community keeps away from the existing banks merely because they are based on interest." "The Islamic finance will not only provide them an opportunity of getting financial assistance, it will also streamline the amount of funds lying with the Muslims that otherwise don’t flow in the existing system”, he said while giving the example of Kerala where efforts are on to utilize in a suitable way an estimated 14000 crore rupees belonging to the Non Resident Indians (NRIs) mostly of the Gulf.   Interestingly, at the time when Dr Shariq Nisar was discussing with ummid.com in Malegaon about the investment opportunities in India from the Middle East, thousands of kms away Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on an official visit to Saudi Arabia was signing agreements related to trade and investments with Saudi crown prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. SOURCE