News From : DagangHalal.com (07 Jul 2014)
JanSeva, a cooperative credit society registered with the Indian government, is promoting the concept of “Halal income” by using interest-free financial mechanisms to promote Islamic finance. Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of a public lecture on Islamic Banking, Javed Zulkharnain, director of JanSeva, said, “We aim to empower marginalized members of the community, including women, by providing access to micro-finance services to achieve the national mission of inclusive growth.”
Zulkharnain added, “JanSeva takes inspiration from economic guidelines given by the holy Qur’an and Sunnah. We practice an interest free model, where risk and reward are both shared by donor as well as benefactor, who in essence are also cooperative society members.”
He noted that JanSeva is operating in major parts of India including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad and has a license to work in 12 states namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP and West Bengal.
Regarding the name of the society, the director maintained, “We are living in a secular democratic country with a composite culture, to which JanSeva is a tribute.” He further underlined that JanSeva’s services are available to all Indians irrespective of caste, creed, gender and worship.
He clarified that JanSeva is not a charitable organization but a social business built on a self-sustaining model based on the ethics of profit and loss to be shared. JanSeva also provides both secured and unsecured loans to its members ranging from Rs2000 to 51 lakhs, he pointed out.
Zulkharnain underlined that Islamic finance has become the need of the hour. In countries like Malaysia, which is the largest Sukuk market followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), about 40 percent of depositors are non-Muslims, highlighting that Islamic finance is sought-after by different creeds.
The program was well attended by members of the expatriate community in Riyadh.
A brief question and answer session was also the part of the program, followed by a vote of thanks given by BISWAS general secretary Akhtarul Islam.
Bihar International Society for Welfare and Solidarity, a socio-welfare group of expatriate Indian workers in Riyadh, organized the lecture.
Source: Arabnews.com