India will look at Islamic banking practices: PM

11:27AM Wed 27 Oct, 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said he would ask the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to look into what Malaysia was doing on Islamic banking practices.

"I will certainly recommend it to the RBI to look at what is happening in Malaysia in this context. RBI is already looking into the question if India should allow Islamic banking," the prime minister said at a joint press interaction with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Tun Razak.

The Islamic banking system is an interest free system in accordance with Sharia laws. Several Islamic banks in the Middle Easat have asked the Indian government to start the system on an experimental basis.

Manmohan Singh is on a three-day trip to Malaysia that began Tuesday.

source: IANS