In its editorial ‘Changing contours of banking’, The Hindu (Aug 5, 2009) has rightly pointed out that 60 per cent of the Indian population does not have access to formal banking services and urged to implement the recommendations of Dr Raghuram Rajan Committee Report on Financial Sector Reforms-CFSR for inclusive growth.
‘A large section of the population prohibit the use of banking because of faith, and they are economically disadvantaged strata of the society also,’ comments CFSR and recommends Interest-free banking to be introduced in the main banking system under inclusive growth with innovation.
Countries like Britain, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, South Africa, Thailand, etc, have already introduced this system and have been growing at 15% annually and insulated from the financial tsunami of sub-prime mortgage.
When London, Singapore, Paris and Tokyo are becoming hub and house of interest-free Islamic Banking, why not Mumbai and Kochi?
H Abdur Raqeeb
Gen-Sec, ICIF, New Delhi