The more Muslims are acquiring knowledge of Islam the more they are trying to find ways to practice their faith in the best possible way they can in Secular India.  Since long Muslim intellectuals & prominent personsfrom across the country has demanded from the Government to open up specialized windows in Banks for Interest free banking exclusive for the Muslim Community, but nothing has come up.  On the other hand, it is amazing to note that Social Welfare, NGOs & Charitable organizations in the Muslim community have awakened to take up this task.  A lot is being heard from different parts of the country about cooperative credit societies helping the poor by giving interest free loans to small vendor & traders. In some cases the success rate has been almost 90% with very few defaulters. Such reports are encouraging to open up more counters to help the needy.

With the community recognizing the importance of education, there seems to be immense thirst to gain highereducation in the Muslim dominated areas. After completion of higher education, the problem starts when theeducated youth do not get employment.  The reason could be both, lack of employability skills and discrimination in the job market against the community.  It is also important to note that, despite all this, late, but talent gets recognition at the end. This is the most positive side of Secular India.  Self-employment is another major challenge the community is facing in the absence of interest-free finance, but reports coming from different part of the country is very encouraging and very soon, in sha Allah, community can expect opportunity to finance their business projects.

RFC – a Successful Model for Islamic Finance & Investment

Rahbar Financial Consultants (RFC) is already doing a great job in this sector, providing a platform to both the Investors & Borrowers.  According to Mudassar Ali Baig – Chief Executive Officer RFC “We help finance businesses in a profit-sharing or participatory manner”. “We perform rigorous research and due-diligence of the investee business, including analysis of its Sharia-compliance and provide an independent report of our study to the investor to help him make a more informed investment decision. We help the business understand its requirements and arrive at the optimal financing strategy based on its needs and future growth capability.” (ref. Maeeshat.in)

This model is not new to India, its being already adopted by few Financial Consultants in India and has been operating smoothly.  What is more important is that in the absence of an interest-free finance & banking system in India, Muslims can look for a great opportunity in this model to earn a halal income, take interest-free loan and do business smoothly.

Industrial Development in the Muslim Community – Need of the Hour

The community seems to be lagging far behind in making its presence felt in the Industrial growth of the country. A very nominal existence in industrial development is of great concern to the community. Gradually with more youth getting higher education and acquiring technical skills there is an increased interest in the community of aspiring to start small & medium scale industries and be self-dependent.  Awareness on interest free business transaction & Islamic knowledge has a made a profound impact on the minds of youth and absence of interest-free finance is a major hurdle in achieving success.

The idea of “inclusive growth” in the context of economic development of a country does not simply mean that it allows people to “contribute to and benefit from economic growth” or share the benefits of economic growth equitably but in the context of Muslims as a “Economically Backward Community”, it also means that the rich people of community who are reaping the benefits of economic growth must share it with the underprivileged people of the community by helping them stand on their own.

Backwardness in the Muslim community should be of great concern to both, the community & the government. As always, the government is not doing much for the upliftment of the Muslims, it is the duty of the intellectuals, philanthropists, social organizations& social workers from the community to stand up and take the responsibility.   We must take some concrete actions that all the classes of people within the community get equal opportunity to “contribute to and benefit from economic growth” or else the rich within the community will get richer and poor get poorer.  The disparity between the rich and poor of the community can be eliminated, if only we seriously provide help to talented and economically backward class too.

An Ideal Model of a Financial Consultant

An RFC type model combined with an Entrepreneurship Development Cell will be of a great help to new entrants and startups.  In my view a grand financial consultancy firm operating on a national level cannot achieve success as high as compared to a regional or even a local level consultancy firm comprising mentors and financial advisors from the local area besides experienced & qualified financial experts. This model should be a hall-mark exclusive for Muslim community dominated areas. The involvement of local people in the executive body of Financial Consultancy firm is of great importance to the success of especially new startups. Innovative business ideas should be invited from all classes of people, studied thoroughly and shortlisted on merit basis before it is presented before the investors. A comprehensive solution like continuous support, mentoring & monitoring of new startups from scratch up to a minimum of 1 year period should be the new funda to make the new startups sustainable in the long run.

At community level we must come out openly to help anyone who is interested in doing a halal business.  A Muslim financial consultancy firm helping the existing business housesfinda financer is not that difficult a job, but providing financial help to a new startup or an innovative business idea with all the risks involved, is what seems to be a difficult task.

For financing existing business projects, I found a financial consultancy company devising their strategy more carefully in selecting the projects requiring finance.  The important &foremost condition of the consultancy is that the company should be a registered private limited company with at least 2 years of existence in business. This condition itself take care of preventing unethical and fraudulent business activities from the beginning, because no startup can survive a period beyond this,  if it involves in fraudulent business activities, more ever the 2 year period also tests the patience of the Entrepreneur. This condition can be included in the model for existing business houses, needing finance over 25 Lakh.

Industrial Development & Employment Cell of Minority Advisory Forum (MAF), Aurangabad, Maharashtra has taken a  small step in this direction, in sha Allah soon it is arranging a meeting between a Financial Consultancy Firm and a Sharia Investment company to develop a financial product for both. It’s not just the MAF, I have seen number of Muslim organizations especially all over Maharashtra taking definitive steps in Sharia Compliant Investment & Finance, Education, Industrial Development, Skill Development, Business Networking and many other fields for improving the economical condition of the community. You may say, the wait may be over and we are now on the road moving towards the destination.