Mumbai

AirAsia X to put off US$200m sukuk issue

AirAsia X Sdn Bhd will put off a US$200 million Islamic bond issue planned for March by at least 12 months after the airline abandoned routes from Kuala Lumpur to London, Paris, Mumbai and New Delhi.
AirAsia X announced Jan. 12 that it was cutting its flights to Europe, justifying the cost of complying with the European Union’s emissions trading system and rising taxes.

GCC investments in Jersey total $31.37bn

The not-for-profit Jersey Finance opens Abu Dhabi office to tap Gulf wealth from family offices and high networth individuals even as currency fluctuations erode values.
Jersey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency where financial services are the largest industry. Jersey Finance, a not-for-profit organization that is tasked with promoting Jersey as an International Financial Center, has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, close on the heels of another in Mumbai, India. It sees a significant outflow of investment from the UAE to offshore jurisdictions.

Soon, a school to teach Islamic investments

An academy will soon be set up to educate Muslims about investments in various financial sectors, including stock exchange, capital market and banking in accordance to the principals of Sharia (Islamic law).
Pragmatic Wealth Management Pvt . Ltd is coming up with an academy where educated youth will be encouraged to seek employment and do business in the financial sector where participation of Muslims at present is shockingly low.

India launches sharia stock index for Muslims

India's Bombay Stock Exchange launched a share index of sharia-compliant companies on Monday in an attempt to open stock-trading to more Muslims.
The BSE TASIS Sharia 50 consists of the largest and most liquid sharia-compliant stocks within the BSE 500 index.
The index would attract Islamic and other "socially responsible" investors both in India and overseas.

Why should a democracy block Islamic banking?

Although efforts have been made over the past twenty years to bring Islamic banking into India — a country that has more Muslims than Pakistan — as yet the Reserve Bank of India and its master, the Union Finance Ministry, has not given permission for the same. The reason is simple. Across the financial establishment in India, the influence of US and EU financial interests is overpowering.
Several senior civil servants have their close relatives working in such institutions, and therefore accept the advice given by them. Certainly, banks in foreign countries will not want the Indian government to clear the way for the establishment of Islamic banking centres, for that may result in funds flowing from Zurich, London, Frankfurt and New York (all major “Islamic” banking locations) to Mumbai or Kochi. Acting on cue, the monetary and finance authorities in India have continued to block access to Islamic banking avenues, thereby denying millions of observant Muslims in India a chance to keep their assets in safety.

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