Hyderabad: National Spot Exchange (NSEL) has received Shariah-Certification for its ‘E-series’ products in gold, silver and copper. This certificate was recently granted by TASIS (Taqwaa Advisory and Shariah Investment Solutions (P) Ltd), the premier Shariah Advisory Institution in the field of finance in India. This is for the first time in India that investment products in commodities have received such Certification from a Shariah Advisory Board informed Mr. Anjani Sinha, MD & CEO, NSEL speaking to the media here at Hyderabad today.

The ‘E-series’ products were launched by NSEL in 2010 and are available in demat form, in small denominations to enable investment in the form of SIPs (Systematic Investment Planning) for retail investors and portfolio diversification for HNIs. TASIS has certified e-gold, e-silver and e-copper products as Shariah compliant Ethical Instruments conforming to Islamic Investment principles, based on a thorough study and scrutiny of NSEL systems and procedures.

Mr. Anjani Sinha, MD & CEO, NSEL said, “TASIS is noted for its thorough scrutiny in respect of Shariah certification. Our products have gone through strict screening for establishing the fact that they are Shariah compliant. E-gold, e-silver and e-copper are pure products conforming to Islamic investment principles. Our basic objective for obtaining this certification was to convince the large Islamic population of our country to use these products for promoting savings and investment, as we have observed that a large proportion of the Muslim population of our country do not open bank accounts, because it leads to earning interest. For such people, Shariah compliant e gold and e silver products will provide a mechanism to save for the future. In this manner, our products will drive financial inclusion.”

Mr. MH Khatkhatay, Senior Advisor, TASIS said, “Every Indian citizen, who follows Islamic investment principles should greet this opportunity. These are very good instruments to park small savings, or to plan for Hajj on a future date. You can go for Hajj by selling your units, whenever you have put aside sufficient savings.”

Dr. Shariq Nisar, CEO, TASIS commented, “After a thorough study and scrutiny of NSEL’s systems and procedures we found that the ‘E-series’ instruments are ethical and conform to all the standards of Islamic Investment. Hence, we have certified these instruments as Shariah compliant. We recommend to our Shariah conscious investors to make use of these products for preservation of wealth as well as for wealth appreciation. We congratulate NSEL for launching an investor friendly instrument, which will go a long way to reach out to our large Muslim population who have hitherto been bereft of such an opportunity. It is to note that there is no other commodity backed instrument in India, which is certified as Shariah compliant.”

Mufti Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, Shariah Scholar, while welcoming the launch exhorted all investors who are committed to Shariah to participate in such an opportunity. He stressed that unlike some other popular investment avenues, such as listed equity stocks, most of which are not fully Shariah compliant but have been permitted for investment by Shariah scholars out of necessity (due to paucity of viable investment options for the common man), demat trading of gold, silver and copper on NSEL can be fully Shariah compliant and does not suffer from similar Shariah reservations.

It is also noteworthy that due to huge price appreciation in commodities, e gold has given an annualized return of 26 %, while e silver has given a return of 110 % and e copper around 90 % since their launch.