Minority affairs ministry to discuss Islamic endowments
(Reuters) - India's Ministry of Minority Affairs has enlisted a Kuala Lumpur-based body to help develop Islamic endowments, or awqaf, aiming to mobilise a large pool of assets in a country that is home to one of the biggest Muslim populations in the world.
The World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation, which organises conferences and workshops on Muslim business around the world, will hold a roundtable later this year to discuss ways to improve management of India's estimated 490,000 waqf properties.
Institutions such as the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, Malaysia's Hajj Pilgrim Fund and its largest state-owned fund manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd will attend the event, the WIEFF says.
Awqaf exist around the world, receiving donations from Muslims to operate social projects such as mosques, schools and welfare schemes. They have amassed huge holdings of real estate, commercial enterprises, cash, equities and other assets.
But in many cases the management of these assets remains primitive; money is often tied up in property or bank deposits that earn miniscule or even zero returns, imposing economic costs on local economies.
India, with an estimated 177 million Muslims, has a large base of awqaf but many of their assets are far from being employed efficiently; their estimated annual income is just 1.63 billion rupees.
Last month, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the National Wakaf Development Corporation, which the Ministry of Minority Affairs established to help management of the properties become more transparent.
"There is now increased government recognition, but also support for this. These things you cannot do effectively without the legislative support," WIEFF secretary-general Fuzi Abdul Razak told Reuters.
Efforts to strengthen India's awqaf could conceivably be a precursor to developing an Islamic banking sector in the country; its secular laws still largely forbid the selling of sharia-compliant banking.
"At the highest level of policy-making, they are getting more information and looking at countries which have done Islamic banking successfully. There is increased interest for it now," said Abdul Razak.
Last year, India's central bank allowed a firm in the southern state of Kerala to operate as a non-banking financial company following sharia principles, a small step towards developing Islamic finance.
However, such efforts have in the past met strong opposition from bureaucrats in the finance ministry and banking circles. Some politicians, especially from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, have said they fear Islamic banking could be used by militants and strengthen the hold of clergy over India's Muslim community.
(Reporting by Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah in Kuala Lumpur and Bernardo Vizcaino in Sydney; Editing by Andrew Torchia)
in.reuters.com/article/2014/02/27/india-islamicfinance-endowments-idINDEEA1Q04S20140227
NEW DELHI : Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is looking at investing USD 100 billion in India in areas of petrochemicals, infrastructure and mining among others, considering the country's growth potential. Saudi Ambassador Dr Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati has said India is an attractive ...
Read MoreBy Ashwini Shrivastava Singapore, Oct 28 (PTI) Indian and foreign banks should exploit Islamic banking''s untapped potential to ensure the financial inclusion of “unbanked” populations excluded by the existing financial system, several experts have said. Islamic banking is a finance ...
Read MoreThe Kerala State Financial Enterprises (KSFE) Pravasi Chitty, the savings scheme for expats from the state, is now Shariah-compliant, an Indian minister said in Abu Dhabi. Kerala's Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the chit fund scheme is now available with an additional 'halal' option and...
Read MoreTo Check Farm Suicides, India Will Have To Start Interest-Free Banking: Bangladesh Top Banker India will have to start interest-free banking system in order to check the growing number of farm suicides, said a top banker of Bangladesh here on Friday. Md Abdul Awwal Sarker, General Manager, Resear...
Read MoreWhen the Bengaluru-based IMA Group of Companies wound up its operations, it not only left thousands of investors in the lurch but also raised questions on political patronage to Ponzi schemes that are being run in the name of Islamic banking. Imran Gowhar and K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj report on the scam...
Read MoreKhurshid Ahmad Najmi ( Legal Advisor , ICIF , Partner -Link Legal India Law Service, Former Legal Advisor Reserve Bank of India) The biggest problem with the term ‘Islamic bank’ is that it carries the word ‘Islam.’ It is almost l...
Read MoreThe Annual General Body meeting of Indian Centre for Islamic Finance (ICIF) was held at its office in the national capital on June 30 to take stock of the prevailing Islamic financial situation, progress made, and to formulate guidelines and roadmap for the next financial year and to analyse the...
Read More