KOLKATA: With the Islamic investments in global markets on the rise, Indian asset management companies are gearing up to get a pie of the corpus. Frontline mutual funds such as UTI AMC, SBI MF, Birla Sunlife and Kotak MF are all making a beeline to launch Shariah-compliant products in the domestic market.
The reason: In India, 61% of listed companies are Shariah-compliant compared to 57% in Malaysia and 51% in Pakistan. In terms of the number of stocks, a total in excess of 450 BSE scrips, including 23 Sensex stocks, and 39 of the NSE-50 (Nifty) scrips are Shariah-compliant.
While SBI MF has already introduced a Shariah compliant offshore fund under SBI Resurgent India Opportunities Fund (RIOF), Taurus has applied to the market regulator Sebi to come out with a similar product.
SBI MF chief investment officer Sanjay Sinha said the AMC is planning to come out with more variants of RIOF and one of this will be another shariah compliant scheme. "Later, we may come out with a domestic Shariah compliant fund," he said.
UTI MF chief marketing officer Joydeep Bhattacharya said the MF already has an offshore Shariah compliant fund. "Now, we are planning to launch a domestic fund," he added.
Aditya Birla group deputy CEO (financial services) Pankaj Razdan said Shariah-compliant scheme is a good concept in India. "We already have over 460 Shariah-compliant scrips. So, a Shariah compliant equity scheme could be launched," he added.
Taurus managing director R K Gupta said Islamic investments are on the rise in India and expected to cross the $1-billion mark by 2009. "Islamic finances are growing at a rapid pace and the opportunities seem limitless. Muslims in India are not participating in the stock markets and are missing out on opportunities. Islamic investments worth nearly $750 million have already been made in the capital market," he added.
Parsoli Corporation CMD Zafar Sareshwala also said Shariah-compliant products offer great scope.
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