• Syed Umaid Hashim
• Soumya V

Faith has an impact on our day to day activities, and it is mentioned in the holy scripts of major religions that dealing in interest is prohibited. In Hindu Sutras (700-100 BC) and Buddhist Jatakas (600-400 BC) there are many references for payment of interest along with the expressions f disdain for such practices. Vashishtha, a prominent law maker drafted a law banning the high caste Brahman’s and Kshatriya’s from being money-lenders. Interest was prohibited in Christianity too, the evidence of it can be seen in The Holy Bible as follows, “Do not charge your brother interest, weather on money or food or anything else that may charge interest”, (Deuteronomy 23:19). “Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countrymen can live among you”, (Leviticus, 25:36). “If you lend money to one of my people who is needy, don’t be like a money-lender, charge him no interest”, (Exodus, 22:25). It is well known that interest is prohibited in Islam as it is mentioned around 8 times in The Holy Qur’an. The Qur’an says, “Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, "Trade is [just] like interest." But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So, whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah. But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] - those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein”, (Al Baqarah, 2:275). As we have seen that all the major religions have prohibited their followers from dealing in interest. This study is to find out how much of an impact does it have while making the investment decisions. This study also helps in understanding the various investment patterns of the people around and how is it effecting their returns. So that the NBFC’s can design the suitable products which helps in reducing the Ponzi schemes in the economy. For this study a questionnaire has been prepared and has been circulated among the general public, with around 200 responses which have been gathered, it can be seen that the majority of the respondents are Muslims followed by Hindus and Christians. It’s a quasi-experimental design as the study also seeks to find out if there’s a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables which in this study, And as noticed the Muslims respondents are well aware of the prohibition and have responded accordingly, whereas the majority of Hindu and Christian respondents don not realize that interest is prohibited in their faith. It can be concluded that there is a significant portion in the society which believes in faith and believes its teachings. From the analysis it can also we seen that this section of society is not investing in anything which is dealing in interest and they are not aware of other investment options available in the market, the most common investments are done in either Jewellery and other precious metals, or in Real Estate. Therefore, it is safe to say that there is a need to create a product which satisfies the norms of faith and also there is a need to create awareness about various investment options available.

Finance, Investment Behavior, Faith

"Impact of Faith on Investment Decisions", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 4, page no.636-642, April-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2004091.pdf

"Impact of Faith on Investment Decisions", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 4, page no. pp636-642, April-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2004091.pdf