State Bank of India (SBI) said it is losing the banking opportunities in the Middle East due to lack of regulations on Islamic banking in India. The Middle East is viewed as a major market for these products, due to high wealth in this area.
Talking to India reporters, SBI’s regional head and CEO for Middle East, West Asia and North Africa, Farooque Shahab said, “The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is yet to frame regulations on monitoring Islamic banking operations of banks registered in India. Unless they come out with those rules, even foreign offices of Indian banks cannot start offering these products. Bankers from India are losing out on opportunities here.”
If given the permission, the amount of funds available to banks and their clientele will rise. He said that RBI was thinking about letting banks offer Islamic banking services, over a period of time.
But during a recent trip to UAE, RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty is said to have stated that there is no need for India to officially set-up a particular interest-free regime, since it was already prevalent in various forms.
Besides SBI, other Indian financial services entities present in Bahrain comprise of ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
Get the best deals on loan offers