The rental amount under Ijarah transaction is normally linked to interest based benchmark like KIBOR or LIBOR. Is not it an interest based financing?

The difference between an interest based financing and a real/valid lease does not lie in the amount to be paid to the lessor. The basic difference is that in the case of lslamic Ijarah, the ownership and title in the asset/property rest with the lessor who assumes the full risk of the corpus of the leased asset. If the asset is destroyed during the lease period, the lessor will suffer the loss. Similarly, if the leased asset looses its usufruct without any misuse or negligence on the part of the lessee, the lessor cannot claim the rent, while in the case of an interest-based financing, the financier is entitled to receive interest, even if the debtor did not at all benefit from the money borrowed. So far as this basic difference is maintained, (i.e. the lessor assumes the risk of the leased asset) the transaction cannot be categorized as an interest-bearing transaction, even though the amount of rent claimed from the lessee may be equal to the rate of interest. Therefore, the use of the rate of interest merely as a benchmark does not render the Ijara contract invalid as an interest-based transaction. It is, however, advisable at all times to avoid using interest even as a benchmark so that an Islamic transaction is totally distinguished from an un-Islamic one, having no resemblance of interest whatsoever.