IslamicFinance.de

Before handing over his charge to present Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel, former Governor Raghuram Rajan had proposed working with the Government to introduce Islamic Banking. Most recently, Union Finance Ministry said that Islamic banking was not relevant any more as the Government has already introduced several programmes for all citizens towards financial inclusion. Finance Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said various legal changes are needed if even limited products were to be introduced under Islamic banking. It is estimated that 180 million Muslims in India are unable to access Islamic banking because of non-availability of interest free banking. RBI in its report had said it would explore to introduce interest-free banking products in consultation with the government, but before the consultation could be held, the Government of India derailed this whole process.

It seemed as if the path had been cleared for the introduction of Islamic finance in India after the country’s central bank made a proposal to launch Islamic banking windows at conventional banks. With two crucial effects awaiting: Firstly, greater financial inclusion of unbanked Indians, not necessarily only around 170mn Muslims, but also those interested in ethical banking, and, secondly, an increased influx of investments from Muslim regions, namely the Gulf, into India.
However, the proposal got rebuffed in December by the Indian finance ministry which, in a surprising declaration, argued that Islamic banking was “not relevant” any more in achieving the objectives of financial inclusion as the government had already introduced other programmes for all citizens towards that end.

India’ Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar also said that a number of legal changes would become necessary even if limited Islamic finance products were to be introduced, which would result in “numerous legal hurdles.”