Sharia industry caters to millions of people, now taps trusted transportation in Indonesia

More and more Indonesians are attracted to sharia-compliant businesses, be they in banking, insurance, to trusted transportation in Indonesia.

To provide a general picture of sharia banking development in Indonesia, a state-owned sharia bank recorded a total of Rp78.8 trillion of assets as of December 2016, a 12.03% increase from Rp70.4 trillion in the previous year.

Itmanaged6.47 million of third-party fund accounts, while its financing segment has secured 360,000 debtors, as reported by “Kompas.com” on Wednesday (March 1).

Sharia insurance has also seen the number of their customers grow into the millions. A 10- year-old insurance company in Indonesia recently announced that it has recorded 2.5 million customers.

According to the company, sharia insurance is deemed fairer, more transparent and offer better returns, as reported by “Kompas.com” on Saturday (June 10).

Sharia-compliant transportation

Sharia system is claimed to be free from riba (interest), gharar (uncertainty) and maysir (speculation), especially in akad ijarah.

The same system has been implemented in trusted transportation sector by Serasi Autoraya (SERA) through its TRAC Syariah service available for corporations.

“TRAC Syariah is the first product in Indonesia that legally introduces ijarah service, a rent service based on Islamic law,” said TRAC Director Hadi Winarto, as quoted by “Otomania” in “New: Sharia-compliant car rent” on Wednesday (June 14).

All TRAC Syariah vehicles were purchased in a halal manner through mudarabah mechanism or a financing agreement in which the returns will be shared according to the agreed terms, and also protected by sharia-compliant insurance.

TRAC Syariah is also transparent in the maintenance of the vehicles, which can also be converted to mudarabah products using the production-sharingprinciple.

“TRAC-Astra Rent a Car always tries to accommodate customers’ various needs, including the needs for sharia-compliant products,” he added.

The new service has been recommended by the Indonesian National Sharia Board as a sharia-based car rental service, according to the letter of recommendation issued on November 7, 2016.

As an additional information, the Financial Services Authority (OJK)’s official website showed that the number of customers covered by sharia-compliant commercial banksand business units has reached 18.79 million as of January 2017. This is a good indication for the trusted transportation business by Astra’s subsidiary.