Shafeeq Rahman, a doctorate in Islamic economic thought from Jamia Millia Islamia university, said the National Sample Survey Office’s survey on debt and investments in 2013 reveals that 62.69% of Muslims operated a bank account compared to 73.57% Hindus, 80.26% Christians and 96.99% Jains. Only 8.72% of Muslims had post office savings accounts compared to 14.11% Hindus. “If government introduces interest-free banking, Muslims will opt for it. Money lying without any productive benefit will come to the mainstream,” said Rahman.
Religious reasons apart, another cause for the low representation of Muslims in banking is that, because of higher default rates in loans, many lending institutions have identified localities with Muslim concentration as areas of high default and refuse to disburse credit in these places.
Rahman agreed to this and said, “We should start interest-free banking and not Islamic banking so that all people, including non-Muslims, can use these services.”
Published at Hindustan Times dated 23.10.2016
Religious reasons apart, another cause for the low representation of Muslims in banking is that, because of higher default rates in loans, many lending institutions have identified localities with Muslim concentration as areas of high default and refuse to disburse credit in these places.
Rahman agreed to this and said, “We should start interest-free banking and not Islamic banking so that all people, including non-Muslims, can use these services.”
Published at Hindustan Times dated 23.10.2016
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