Why Islamic Banking for Indian Economy?

By Syed Zahid Ahmad

With suppressed desire by Indian Muslims to have Islamic Banking in India, and avoidance to cite taboo word ‘Islamic Banking’ by Raghuram Rajan Committee report on financial sector reforms, it has became more important that besides considering the religious, social, political and diplomatic dimensions, we must understand the economics of Islamic banking for Indian economy. Hope India will not miss the Islamic banking as its missed Globalization bus in the eighties and Asian Tigers including China superseded it. Recently Zee news, Financial Express and the Statesman dailies have projected high potentials for Islamic banking in India. Before it become a political agenda during coming elections, it is better to evaluate economics of Islamic Banking. After all the political parties need economic rationality to convince majority of voters that Islamic Banking is not being allowed to please Muslim voters but to genuinely boost faster and inclusive growth for Indian economy.