International Journal of Accounting and Financial

Management Research (IJAFMR)

ISSN(P): 2249-6882; ISSN(E): 2249-7994
Vol. 6, Issue 3, Oct 2016, 9-20
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

PROSPECTS, PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL OF ISLAMIC BANKING IN INDIA

SANA BEG
Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Jamia Hamdard New Delhi, India
ABSTRACT
The modern Islamic banking is about only five decades old but has gained significant interest in almost all
parts of the world. Today, Islamic banking has become one of the fastest growing segments of the international banking
and capital markets. The spread has been more in the last ten years, especially after the global financial crisis of the
previous decade, primarily because Islamic banks were found to be more stable and less susceptible to crisis. Another
reason for its growth is to attract investments from the Middle-East and Gulf countries besides demand from the muslim
population. Islamic banking has found its way right from the developed western world like the United Kingdom to the
Asian giants like Japan and China. The paper attempts to lay emphasis that India too needs to accommodate Islamic
Banking. If India continues to shy away from Islamic banking it will lose huge potential investments. The paper
highlights the benefits of introducing Islamic banking in India and also identifies the hurdles in the way of Islamic
Banking in India.

Received: Jul 20, 2016; Accepted: Aug 25, 2016; Published: Aug 31, 2016; Paper Id.: IJAFMROCT20162

INTRODUCTION
The primary role of financial institutions including the banks is basically to act as intermediaries between

Original Article

KEYWORDS: India, Islamic Banking, Islamic Finance, Islamic Micro-Finance, SWOT Analysis

the savers and the investors. The savers are mainly the households and the objective of the millions of savers is to
carry their savings over to the future and they also wish to make some money for investing them. On the other
hand, the investors are the thousands of businessmen who are looking for capital to finance ongoing projects or to
set up new enterprises, etc. Thus, financial intermediaries facilitates the transfer of funds from their owners to their
users, boosting production and exchange. At present, the conventional banks lend to businessmen at a
predetermined rate of interest and take deposits from the public on the promise of paying them a return which is
far less than the interest rate charged from the loans to businessmen. The difference between the two is justified by
the banks as covering the risk, the administrative cost as well as to earn profits. However, the basis of this
exchange need not necessarily be based only on interest. The modern Islamic banking is a relatively new
phenomenon and is the result of search for an interest-free alternative to conventional banks; as interest giving and
taking is prohibited in Islam. Islamic Banking is based on the sharing of profits and losses. The modern Islamic
banking emerged in Egypt but the Middle-East countries played a major role in spreading and formalizing it.
Islamic banking is steadily moving into an increasing number of conventional financial systems. It is expanding
not only in nations with majority Muslim populations, but also in other countries where Muslims are a minority.
In a short span of a few decades it has spread far and wide, even in Europe, USA and Australia. These countries
having realized the potential of Islamic banking and its benefits and are making appropriate amendments in their
banking laws and regulations to accommodate Islamic banking and finance. There has been an increased demand
on the International Monetary Fund to provide policy advice and capacity building in a broad range of area.
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The IMF has shown great interest in bringing about macroeconomic and financial stability for its members who have
adopted Islamic banking. The IMF has also played a key role in the establishment of the Islamic Financial Services Board.
In spite of the fact that increasingly many countries are accommodating in some way the Islamic Banking but so far India
has been shying away from Islamic banking.
Need For Islamic Banking in India
The global financial crisis of the previous decade exposed the weaknesses of the conventional banking and
financial system and highlighted the strengths of the Islamic banking. This crisis forced the stance of many nations like
USA, Singapore, Japan and Hongkong to change their banking laws to accommodate the smooth operation of Islamic
banks in their countries, which were affected less by this crisis. This resulted in many international banks and non-banking
financial companies opening new windows of banking that operated according to the Shariah law. Banking giants like
HSBC, Citibank and Standard Chartered made huge efforts to promote the Islamic financial system in these nations.
India needs to no longer ignore Islamic banking and finance. If India wishes to become a global financial services
centre in the region, it should embrace Islamic finance. India is very strategically located in the vicinity of the Middle-East
and the other Arab nations. These countries are looking for investment specially in the developing world that would give a
higher return, provided these investment opportunities are Shariah-compliant. India's attractiveness as a financial centre is
supported by a sizeable domestic economy and financial market. Seeing the immense potential of attracting investments
from the Middle-East, China and Hong Kong have already opened its doors to Islamic banking and finance. China is fast
becoming an important centre of Islamic financial market. China also became a member of IFSB in 2009. Since then
number of contracts have been signed between Chinese banks and financial institutions and the Islamic Financial
institutions of Gulf Cooperation Council and South-east Asia.
Also, India is home to the third highest population of Muslims in a single country, Indonesia and Pakistan having
the highest and the second highest respectively. As Islam prohibits Muslims to give or take interest, India should make an
option for interest-free banking to fulfil the banking needs of Muslims. The secular system adopted by the Reserve Bank of
India for banking and financial services in India is in a way conflicting with the fundamental right to freedom of religion
and thus the government should introduce amendments in the laws and regulations to introduce Islamic banking in India.
Current Status of Islamic Finance in India
In India, the financial institutions are broadly classified into two Banks and Non-banking Financial
Intermediaries (NBFI) based on the Banking Regulation Act of 1949. Our conventional banking has to be necessarily be
based on interest and thus banking without interest is prohibited in the nation. However, the banking laws does permit the
Islamic finance to workout their operations as an NBFI under the direct supervision and control of RBI. However, the
functions and operational freedom of NBFIs are limited. Besides many changes in regulations over a span of just a few
years, acted as a barrier for the NBFIs in general and for Islamic NBFIs in particular to grow and prosper.
Many corporate and Asset Management Company of the country has been showing their favour to Islamic finance
industry since last few years. The countrys major corporate giants like Tata and Reliance, to name a few have introduced
Shariah compliant mutual funds.
The Bombay Stock Exchange in collaboration with the Taqwaa Advisory and Shariah Investment Solutions
(TASIS) launched an Islamic Index in 2010 to attract Muslim investors from India and abroad. The index was called BSE
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9245

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

Prospects, Problems and Potential of Islamic Banking in India

11

TASIS Shariah 50 Index and it allowed investors to trade in the stock markets without violating the Islamic code on
investment and finance.
In May 2013, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Standard and Poor's (S&P) Dow Jones Indices announced the
launch of the S&P BSE 500 Shariah index, the first new index resulting from the strategic partnership formed between the
two companies. The S&P BSE 500 Shariah index was designed to represent all Shariah compliant stocks of the broad
based S&P BSE 500 index. The Index serves as an important role in measuring the performance of the Shariah-compliant
stocks from the universe of S&P BSE 500 Index. With the coming up of this index the BSE TASIS Shariah 50 Index was
discontinued.
A very significant and positive step towards developing Islamic banking and finance in the country came in
August 2013, when RBI allowed Kerala based Non-banking financial company Cheraman Financial Services - to operate
in Shariah-compliant mode, with the Kerala State Government also having a share in it.
Islamic finance in India received a shot in the arm with the news that the Islamic Corporation for Development
(ICD), a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is expected to set up its first Indian branch
in Ahmedabad. This branch would operate as a non-banking financial company and its operations would be
Shariah-compliant. This was decided on the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, wherein
agreements were signed between the IDB and India's EXIM Bank. According to media reports, Mr. Zafar Sareshwala who
had accompanied the Prime Minister on the visit would be heading the ICD's India operations.
Benefits of Introducing Islamic Banking in India
Interest free banking has inherently many benefits and India may benefit from it if it is introduced. Few of the
possible benefits are enumerated below:

Efficiency
In the conventional banking system, the loans are given to those who are more credit-worthy. The banks get a

pre-determined rate of interest, irrespective of what profit the business generated because of that loan. In contrast, in an
interest-free banking, loans go to finance projects expected to be most productive and/ or profitable and not to those who
are most credit-worthy. Banks share the profits of the project being financed. Thus, in conventional banks the focus at the
time of sanctioning the loan is not profitability but the credit-worthiness of the borrower. However, in Islamic banks or in
an interest-free banking, loans go to finance projects expected to be most productive and/ or profitable and not to those
who are most credit-worthy. Thus, a project suspected of giving less or no profits may qualify to get financed if it comes
from a party backed by assets whereas a promising project may fail to get finance if it comes from a party that does not
have sufficient assets. Thus the problem with the conventional system is that credit-worthiness becomes more important
than profitability of the project, which is inherently inefficient. In Islamic banks, since the returns to the banks would come
out of the realized profits, the focus of the banks in deciding where to put its money will be on expected profits. That also
is the focus of an entrepreneur. This is more efficient because the savings are directed towards the high-yielding
investments.

Stability
An interest-based financial inter-mediatory system is believed to be more unstable. This is primarily because of

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lack of synchronization between a firm's payment obligations to the banks and of expected profits or revenues. Payment of
pre-determined interest obligation is fixed at specific intervals but the revenue generation amount and timings are
uncertain. Inability to make interest payments may destabilize the system. Islamic- banks overcome this drawback of the
conventional banking by linking the payment obligation with the revenue generation and thus increases stability.
Another drawback of the conventional banking system is that the credit creation and expansion in money supply is
not linked directly with the wealth creation. This leads to increased inflation because money supply increase in not
followed by an increase in goods and services. In contrast, in a profit-sharing system of banking, credit expands only when
banks and businesses are convinced about the possibility of creating additional wealth. Bank financing in Islamic banking
system creates assets and not debts. Thus, the Islamic banking system brings with it more stability in the system.

Justice
In a conventional banking system, businesses bear the risk as costs are incurred on expectations of profits which

may or may not accrue. The owners of money are guaranteed their principal as well as interest. This is unfair as all risk is
borne by one party and the other enjoys a risk-free return on their capital. Islamic banking, on the contrary, suggests that
those who seek to earn a profit must also expose their principal to risk, for the only way to earn money on money is to do it
through enterprise. An option in Islamic banking is that principal is guaranteed only in case when zero returns are
stipulated. Otherwise, if someone expects to receive a return on the capital, then he should use it himself or let someone
else use it in trade or industry etc. and share the return as well as the risk.
The interest based finance is unjust. In this system, one party bears the risk while the other enjoys a risk-free
return. One party may be loosing but the other continues to earn more and more money, this leads to concentration of
wealth. In contrast, in Islamic banking, the risk and returns both are shared.

Inclusions
Islamic Banking can be introduced for more inclusive growth. Islamic banking can give equitable growth along

with control over inflation. Unfortunately India houses the highest number of financially excluded adults in any single
country, 21 percent of the world's unbanked population. Financial inclusion is more explicitly emphasized in Islamic
finance as compared to conventional finance. The reasons why Islamic finance scores better than the conventional finance
to enhance financial inclusion is because it is interest-free and risk-sharing of wealth and redistribution of wealth can be
called two pillars of Islamic economics.
Risk-sharing constitutes the core economic principles of Islam. Islam strictly prohibits all kinds of interest-based
contracts. The reason being that a party who wishes to be a beneficiary of profits should also be ready to share the loss if
any, and thus profit-sharing and risk sharing is allowed and encouraged together. In the conventional system, risk is borne
by only one party (borrower) and the other receives a fixed rate of return (interest) on the investments. Many financial
instruments have evolved over time and are practiced in Islamic banking today, namely Mudarabah, Musharakah,
Murabaha, Ijarah, Salaam, etc. However, in the context of financial inclusion Islamic Micro-finance and Micro-insurance
or Micro-Takaful are more significant.
The Islamic law ensures economic justice along with economic growth through rules regarding resource
allocation, production, exchange and the distribution of resulting income and wealth. Islam firmly believes that the returns
from the use of various resources by the more able must be shared with the less able, who have an equal rights on them.
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9245

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

Prospects, Problems and Potential of Islamic Banking in India

13

Islam places great emphasis on redistribution of income and wealth and thus legislate institutions for this purpose such as
Zakat, Sadaqah, and Qard-al-hasan. These instruments are envisaged to enhance access to financing while addressing
equity and contributing to poverty alleviation. The Zakat and the Sadaqah are gifts but Qard-al-hasan is a loan without
interest for a needy.

Upliftment of Muslims
One of the most important reasons of introducing Islamic Banking should be to improving the conditions of the

largest minority in India, Muslims. Muslims are the most disadvantaged community in financial sector according to the
Sachar Committee report. Due to interest based deposit and credit from commercial banks, 80% of muslims are financially
excluded. According to an RBIs report, muslims loose around Rs 63,700 crores annually because they have a credit
deposit ratio of 47% against national average of 74%. With 31% muslims living under poverty line and 40% muslim
workers as own account workers, this big deficit can be covered by Islamic banking.

Increase Investments
India is a developing country and needs huge investments. Investment framework is favorable in India. Indias

legal framework, which is the best in the region and it protects foreign investors. Also, the economies of neighboring
Islamic countries have limited opportunities. India has abundant managerial and technical skill too. If India introduces
Shariah-compliant banking, it can bring in more Arab petrodollars into the country. The western countries have also
adopted Islamic banking to attract petrodollars. Introducing Islamic banking will not only please 175 million muslims
living in India but will also attract Non-resident Indian Muslims to invest in India. All this will make more money available
for investments.

Agricultural Development
In India, agriculture is one of the largest sector of economic activity and plays a critical role in the country's

economic development by providing food and raw materials. It provides employment to a very large proportion of the
population, capital for its own development and even surpluses for the national economic development. As in other
industries, one of the essentials of agricultural production is finance. After independence the major source of agricultural
finance of the country was from non- institutional sources which consist of money lenders, traders, land lords etc.
This, however, was causing exploitation of the farmers. So the government introduced schemes for making greater credit
available to the farmers through banks and other formal financial institutions. However, it is being greatly realized that this
too is not really improving the plight of the farmers. India is witnessing an alarming rate of farmer suicides as farmers are
facing crop failure because of extreme weather conditions like drought, flood etc. Farmers are not able to pay the
accumulated interest and the principal. In this year in just two months, more than a thousand farmers have committed
suicide. In the state of Maharashtra, about ten farmers have been committing suicides daily over the past ten years
(National Crime Records Bureau). In such a situation, Islamic banking may prove to be beneficial. Islamic banking is
based on the principle of both risk and profit sharing. The products in Islamic banking are such that borrower has to make
payments only when he has received returns on the money he had borrowed. The rate and time of returns are not
pre-determined in Islamic banking unlike in conventional banking. Islamic banking also has a product, Qard-e-hasan,
where money is lent on zero returns and the borrower is obligated to pay just the principal when he has sufficient funds.

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Scope of Islamic Micro-Finance in India

The term micro-finance refers to the provision of financial services to low-income clients including
self-employed and low-income entrepreneur in urban, semi-urban and rural areas (Ledgerwood, 1999). Micro-finance has
emerged as an economic development approach intended to address the financial needs of the downtrodden where the
commercial banks have failed to reach. The Nobel Prize winner, Mohammad Yunus defined micro-finance as a provision
of small amounts of thrift, credit and other financial services and products to the rural and urban poor to improve their
living standards by increasing their household income and therefore creating demand for other goods and services.
Micro-finance have however, not been able to reach the objectives even after decades of its adoption. Hassan (2015) have
identified three main problems associated with mainstream micro-finance borrower unfriendly products and procedures,
inflexibility and delay, high transaction costs (both legitimate and illegitimate) and lastly often micro-finance being seen as
a social obligation rather than a business opportunity. Lately, however, it is also being argued that because of the high
interest rates micro-finance are causing huge burden on the poor, leading to vicious cycle of debt and poverty.
The recent spate of farmer suicides in India, is a case in point.
Islamic micro-finance can be said to represent the meeting of two fast growing financial industries Islamic
finance and micro-finance. It aims at combining the Islamic social principles of caring with the micro-finance's power to
provide financial access to the disadvantaged section of the society. In Islamic micro-finance, the poorest of the poor is
given preference for receiving the public support. Zakat and sadaqah are two important instruments of charity in Islam that
can play a critical role in poverty alleviation. The main sources of fund in Islamic micro-finance includes external funds,
savings of clients and the charitable funds while in conventional micro-finance there is no provision of charitable funds.
The main drawback with the conventional micro-finance is high rates (sometimes as high as 30%) charged from the poor
people to make financial gains to the micro-finance institutions. On the other hand, Islamic micro-finance are based on
profit and loss sharing schemes. Although Islamic financial system provides an array of instruments and micro-finance
products that are shariah-compliant, murabahah and qard-e-hassan are the main Islamic finance instruments for the poor
(Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, CGAP 2013).
Micro-Savings: The savings of the poor are investments for Islamic Micro-finance Institutions. The profits and
losses are shared between the Micro-finance Institutions and the customer, depending whether the investment of deposits
are on mudarabah, musharakah or takaful.
Micro-Credit: The Islamic Micro-finance institutions allows customers the acquisition of assets that are needed
for their productive activity by giving them on rent; the acquisition being financed by products like qard-e-hassan,
murabahah, ijara, salam etc. All these products create debt and the customer pays the price of assets with gross margin.
Micro-Lease : In contrast to conventional lease, the risks are very high to the Islamic Micro-finance Institutions
takes on the responsibility of all damages involuntary caused to its customer. The modalities of lease contract are defined
in advance.
Micro-Takaful: Micro-takaful is micro-insurance based on mutual guarantee to protect the borrowers from
unpredicted risks. To improve prevention of risks and strengthen the security of borrowers, a number of people contribute
to create an insurance fund that compensate borrowers who face some emergency or an undesirable event in their business.
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9245

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

Prospects, Problems and Potential of Islamic Banking in India

15

The premiums are invested in shariah-compliant investments.

According to Sachar Committee report 80 percent of muslim population is excluded. Muslims, the largest
minority group, constitute 14% of the total population of India. This effectively means that more than half of the
financially excluded in India are muslims. One of the reasons why muslims do not participate in the mainstream-banking is
because their faith prohibits them to give and take interest. There is very little participation of Muslims with institutions
like NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of
India) and National Minority Development Corporation (Hassan, 2015). Thus, it can be said that Islamic micro-finance can
go a long way specially to bring in financial inclusion of muslims.
Obstacles in the Way of Islamic Banking in India
In the last couple of decades a few Islamic financial institutions has emerged offering some selected products or
services. However, none of them really prospered and a full-fledged Islamic bank still remains a dream for the Indian
Muslims. There are few obstacles which come in the way of any Islamic financial institution to succeed.

Legal Hurdle
The banking law in India, the Banking Regulation Act 1949, necessitates all banks to operate on the principle of

interest. Thus, this prohibits the establishment of an Islamic bank which basically is a bank without interest.
Further, because of the regulations regarding Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), banks have
to keep a large portion of their deposits on interest earning government and public sector securities.
The non-banking financial institutions emerged that operated according to Shariah law but could not prosper
much because of frequent amendments that took place and the various restrictions that were imposed on these NBFCs.

Unequal Treatment of Debt and Equity

Under the existing rules in India, interest is exempted from tax while dividends are taxed. In an Islamic financial

institution, the capital is equity based as it is operating through profit and loss sharing. This therefore is a big disadvantage
for Islamic financial companies as compared to other conventional financial firms.

Lack of Islamic Insurance

Islamic banking and financial firms develop a sense of insecurity and lack of confidence as there is no provision

of deposit insurance and credit guarantee unlike conventional commercial banks and cooperative societies which have
these facilities. Besides non-availability of Islamic insurance schemes, lack of interest free instruments, undeveloped
Islamic primary market and non-existence of secondary marker for Islamic product are some other serious problems of
Islamic financial firms.

Lack of Transparency
To promote and restore confidence of investors there should be transparency in profit distribution, financial

documentation and compliance to both the government's as well as Shariah rules. However, Islamic financial firms have
not been able to meet these expectations. There is always a fear of mis-reporting of profits by borrowers. Besides, there is
no heavy penalty for defaulters, and hence again a fear of its misuse.

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Lack of Credit Rating Agencies for Islamic Financial Institutions

There are many credit rating agencies for the conventional financial firms but there are no such rating agencies to

rate the Islamic financial firms. This leads to lack of confidence among the investors.

Lack of Qualified Shariah Experts

The lack of qualified Shariah experts only increases the woes of the investors to check if any firm is actually

operating as per Shariah law.

Swot Analysis of Islamic-Banking In India
SWOT analysis is an important tool to understand and identify the strengths and opportunities available and to
devise strategy to utilize them fully, while identification of weaknesses and threats help identify the dangers and take
precautionary steps before that hurts the business or the industry. SWOT analysis of Islamic Banking is undertaken to
understand it's potential in India.
Strengths

Islamic banking has become very popular across the world in a short span of time and with India's robust banking
structure has great potential to do well in India as well.

Islamic banking is more stable than conventional banks as its financing is asset based and not debt based like
conventional banking and hence does not lead to high rates of inflation.

The foundation of Islamic banking is Islamic economics which lays great emphasis on inclusive growth and
poverty alleviation.

Islamic banks are more immune to instability as evidenced during the global financial crisis.

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness in the current scenario is the lack of provision of interest-free banking as per banking
regulations in India.

Most of the people are ignorant about Islamic-Banking as they believe that it is a banking system only for
muslims.

Islamic banking desires greater level of business ethics and in India that is yet to evolve.

Lack of close bank-clientele relationship environment which is essential for Islamic banking.

Islamic banking demands greater monitoring of the operations.

Lack of Shariah experts

Opportunities

Huge market size specially large muslim population is big opportunity for Islamic Banks.

Growing Indian economy has huge potential to attract investments from cash surplus Muslim countries.

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9245

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

Prospects, Problems and Potential of Islamic Banking in India

17

Large number of muslims avoid participating in the conventional banking system and as a result large credit is not
utilized.

The financially excluded muslims can be beneficiaries of Islamic banking.

Islamic Microfinance has huge potential as it evident from its success abroad.

Threats

The biggest threat is that introduction of Islamic banking could be seen as threat to secularism and may result in
political turmoil.

Having two parallel banking stream may give rise to communalism.

The above analysis weighs in favour of Islamic banking and the weaknesses and threats are relatively small and

manageable as compared to the huge potential and opportunities that Islamic-Banking offers.

CONCLUSIONS
Islamic-Banking is a banking system which takes inspiration from the quran, prohibits the give and take of
interest and is based on the sharing of both risk and returns. The modern Islamic banking is about only five decades old but
today has become one of the fastest growing segments of the international banking and capital markets. It is increasingly
gaining acceptance as a viable alternative to the conventional banking. Islamic banking in a short span of time has spread
far and wide. It started in the muslim majority countries like Egypt and the Middle-East but now has spread to all parts of
the world from the developed western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America to the far-east
countries like Japan and Singapore. These countries made suitable amendments in their banking regulations to
accommodate Islamic banking. The reasons for this was basically two folds to satisfy the demand of the local muslim
population and the second was to attract huge petrodollar investments in their countries. Another important reason for fast
acceptance of Islamic banking is its performance during the global financial crisis of the last decade, wherein Islamic
banks and Islamic windows of the conventional banks were found to be more stable. China and HongKong too seeing the
potential investments opened up to Islamic banking and finance. India, however, has not yet started Islamic banking in
spite of the recommendations of high level committees recommending the start of Islamic banking. The Raghuram Rajan
Committee on Financial Sector Reforms in 2009 and the Deepak Mohanty committee on Medium Term Path on Financial
Inclusion in 2015 have strongly recommended to the government to make necessary amendments in the Indian banking
regulations to accommodate Islamic banking.
India, however, has been shying away from Islamic banks. The reason for the same is probably more political than
economic. Although Islamic finance exists in India in bits and pieces but that is not significant enough and India is losing
out on big investments. India is strategically located and has the potential of attracting huge doses of investments from the
surplus countries of the Middle-East and the Gulf. India is home to one of the highest muslim populations and they too
often choose to stay away from the conventional banking because of their faith. It is one the reasons primarily because of
which India is home to the highest population of financially excluded adults. The benefits highlighted in the paper suggests
that Islamic banking has many advantages over conventional banking and the major being that it has the potential to
increase financial inclusion which is crucial if India wants to become an economic giant in the near future. The SWOT
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analysis undertaken for Islamic banking in India also reveals that india should open its doors to Islamic banking as the
strengths and opportunities far out-weigh the weaknesses and threats.
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