Islamic Finance

Microfinance/micro-credit has been practiced informally in Sudan and elsewhere for a long time through conventional relations in rural agricultural communities. But the steady increase in population and competition on the meager resources has forced the human beings to think about better means. The main obstacle for a family to meet its basic needs is income poverty. Before the 20th Century, formal financial institutions were not involved in microfinance delivery (i.e. lending, savings, money transfer, insurance, etc).

The magnitude of philanthropic giving in Muslim communities is estimated to total between USD 250 billion and USD 1 trillion annually.

The objective of this project is to develop and implement an Islamic microfinance model using the Grameen group financing approach initially to murabaha and

Venture capital is a source of funding for entrepreneurs. Any entrepreneurial activity is directly proportional to the economic growth of a country. Venture capital encourages entrepreneurs in a country, but the traditional objective of venture capital is to invest in an entrepreneurship venture, breed it, grow it and sell it at a huge profit. This fundamental concept of VC is carried forward in Islamic venture capital but follows the basic tenets of

The world today is plagued by hunger, epidemics, global warming, and human rights violations. While several Western civil organizations are actively dealing with these challenges, Muslims have yet to be identified as global partners associated with peace building. To meet these challenges and to bring the world’s poor out of poverty; we find a strong demand for carefully monetized Islamic philanthropic instruments.

The Islamic finance institutions (IFIs) operate within a special incentive structure, as briefly discussed below. While operating within the incentive structure, the IFIs cannot invest in microfinance initiatives beyond a certain limit, which is often criticized to be nominal or unsatisfactory. Therefore, in order for the IFIs to play the desired microfinance role, microfinance needs to be incentivized for the IFIs in a manner that is consistent with the existing structure.

Poverty eradication, acknowledged since WWII as a global responsibility, received increasing attention during 1980s and 1990s, culminating in UN’s adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2002. Although microcredit’s success in alleviating poverty has now been recognized worldwide, it has two main weaknesses - high interest rates and, for

This paper examines microfinance’s positive impact on the status of women globally. The paper addresses what it means for women to be “empowered” and answers why microfinancial institutions should care. A case study of the Sinapi Aba Trust in Ghana is cited. The paper concludes that although microfinance does not always empower women, as in certain cases delineated in the article, more often than not, it can positively aide their situation.

This paper attempts to identify the problems of resource utilization of selected Muslim funds of Northern India.