The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has written to the government to “restructure” or “amend” the laws to allow Islamic banking in India. Speaking at a local event, RBI governor D Subbarao said: “Islamic banking is allowed in many parts of the world, but the Banking Regulation Act of India does not conform to Islamic banking because it allows banks to borrow from and deposit money with the RBI on interest. But we are in correspondence with the government on how our laws can be restructured or amended so that they are in conformity with Islamic banking.”
The RBI governor’s statement comes on the back of a rising clamour to allow Islamic banking in India, which would fetch billions of dollars in investments from countries in the Middle East. Islamic banking is an interest-free system that is allowed in many developed economies, including European markets like France, Germany and the UK.