Ahmedabad, Mar 19: Islamic laws may bar the faithful
from investing in any financial instrument that yields
interest, including shares, but a financial services provider
has been helping Muslim investors reap profits from the market
without breaking the 'Shariyat' code.
Parsoli Corporation, which provides stock broking and
portfolio advisory services, has been encouraging investors
from the Muslim community to invest only in scrips of those
companies that manufacture and sell products and not in shares
of banks, whose core business is earning interest.
This system, Parsoli, claims does not violate the Islamic
code and it has been trying to convince both religious heads
and people to invest in the capital market.
"The average portfolio of investment by Muslims into the
share market has increased by 50 per cent in just over one
year's period and since the stock market has been soaring,"
Parsoli's Zafar Sareshwala, who was instrumental in
popularising the unique investment method in India, told mediapersons.
Parsoli reorganised itself last year after being
destroyed during the 2002 sectarian violence in Gujarat, he
said, adding that the popularity of "Islamic Index" has risen
since then on the back of the upward spiral in the bourses,
including the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Ahmedabad was chosen to launch the wealth management
service given the fact that Muslims in Gujarat have the
highest per capita income and are among the most educated as
compared to other states of the country.
"Moreover, India has about 200 million Muslims and a lot
of untapped Muslim wealth, which is a huge market for our
company", Sareshwala said, adding that after Ahmedabad and
Mumbai, his company is looking to open similar centres in
Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow and other
cities of India having Muslim population of over three lakh.
The company also intends to provide insurance products to
vast majority of Muslims, who do not have these products, he
said, adding that the company proposes to have a strategic
alliance with some insurance companies and design tailor-made
schemes that are 'Shariat' compliant.
By managing the huge untapped wealth of Muslims in the
country, the company wishes to integrate the community into
the economic mainstream of India, Sareshwala said.
The company is an RBI registered full-fledged money
changer and has a 100 per cent subsidiary in the UK, which
conducts similar business across European countries.
Parsoli, in collaboration with IBF-net, has compiled
Parsoli IBF, NSE equity index, India's first and only Islamic
equity index, comprising the most liquid stocks of Shariat
compliant companies that are registered on the NSE and the BSE.
Bureau Report