Islamic Finance
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Ministry of Higher Education KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY
Islamic Economics Research Centre
ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj
Scientific Publishing Centre King Abdulaziz University Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj
Scientific Publishing Centre King Abdulaziz University P.O. Box 1540, Jeddah 21441 Saudi Arabia
FOREWORD
The Islamic financial services industry has come of age. According to one estimate there are presently over two hundred Islamic banks and financial institutions all over the globe with total transactions valued at over 120 billion US dollars. A cursory look at these financial institutions and the nature of their operations reveals an interesting aspect of the growth of this sector. There does not seem to be much of a correlation between the number of Islamic financial institutions established in a given region with the size of the market that these institutions can potentially serve. For example, countries like Indonesia and India which together account for over one-third of world Muslim population do not score very high in terms of growth of the Islamic financial services industry. This may be due to a variety of reasons, which are often not rooted in economics. India with a population of over 150 million Muslims particularly lags behind with a near-total absence of organized Islamic banks and financial institutions. As such, the situation merits serious attention of researchers and scholars. The present study by Dr. Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj is an ambitious attempt in this direction. Notwithstanding the scant attention that Islamic banking has received from regulators and policy makers in India, small Muslim communities have taken initiative to establish a fairly large number of tiny and small institutions, often in the
Ministry of Higher Education KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY
Islamic Economics Research Centre
ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj
Scientific Publishing Centre King Abdulaziz University Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj
Scientific Publishing Centre King Abdulaziz University P.O. Box 1540, Jeddah 21441 Saudi Arabia
FOREWORD
The Islamic financial services industry has come of age. According to one estimate there are presently over two hundred Islamic banks and financial institutions all over the globe with total transactions valued at over 120 billion US dollars. A cursory look at these financial institutions and the nature of their operations reveals an interesting aspect of the growth of this sector. There does not seem to be much of a correlation between the number of Islamic financial institutions established in a given region with the size of the market that these institutions can potentially serve. For example, countries like Indonesia and India which together account for over one-third of world Muslim population do not score very high in terms of growth of the Islamic financial services industry. This may be due to a variety of reasons, which are often not rooted in economics. India with a population of over 150 million Muslims particularly lags behind with a near-total absence of organized Islamic banks and financial institutions. As such, the situation merits serious attention of researchers and scholars. The present study by Dr. Mohammad Ghous Ikhtiyaruddin Bagsiraj is an ambitious attempt in this direction. Notwithstanding the scant attention that Islamic banking has received from regulators and policy makers in India, small Muslim communities have taken initiative to establish a fairly large number of tiny and small institutions, often in the