Indian banks have capacity to launch South Asian Shariah Fund

The leading Indian banks have the capacity to launch a South Asian Shariah Fund to capitalize the region's untapped market for Islamic finance which requires multi-billion dollars of financing annually. Indian banks are in a position to lead the Shariah fund for the region, given their global network which includes facilitating Islamic banking and financing in one way or another, observed Ariff Sultan, regional director for Asia Pacific at the US-based global Shariah compliance product screening group, IdealRatings. Sultan said IdealRatings has been approached by a number of Islamic Banking-linked investors to screen opportunities for placing their funds in the Indian market. But there are regulatory restrictions.