Sharia law stock market

Investing in gold Sharia Law - Business Insider

Tuesday 28 December India's investment community has offered a solution to a quandary faced by millions of Muslims by launching a share index that complies with Sharia law. The Bombay Stock Exchange has unveiled a new index of companies that meet the Islamic legal code, allowing the country's million Muslims to play the stock market.

Sharia law prohibits Muslims from holding an investment portfolio whose stock picks include companies that sell alcohol or tobacco, or businesses that charge interest.

The exchange has teamed up with a Mumbai-based Islamic finance company, Tasis, to create the BSE Tasis Sharia 50 index, consisting of the 50 largest and Sharia-observant companies in the BSE including Reliance Industries — a gas, oil and food conglomerate. Madhu Kannan, chief executive, of the Bombay Stock Exchange, said the move would give Muslims an enhanced role in India's rapidly expanding economy, while drawing in funds from international investors bound by Sharia law.

Britain is one of the leading players in the Islamic finance market due to a well-regarded tax and legal regime that has allowed numerous Islamic bond issues in London.

This year International Innovative Technologies, a Gateshead-based engineering company, became the first British company to raise funds through the issue of an Islamic bond, or sukuk. However, Islamic bank accounts and other retail financial products have fared less well in Britain, with the founder of the Islamic Bank of Britain describing the market as a "huge flop".

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Investing in stock market: the Shariah way, The Milli Gazette, Vol.6 No, MG ( July 05)

The Guardian - Back to home. India's million Muslims can now play the stock market.

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