Central government banned more than 200 lending and betting apps with Chinese links

In a major campaign against loan and lending apps, the central government has ordered the banning of 138 betting and 94 lending apps linked to China. This action has been taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. According to reports, the government started scrutiny of many Chinese apps about six months ago. It was revealed that these apps have personal information of the people of the country.

Many complaints of illegal recovery and harassment of people were received against these apps. These apps give loans of small amount to people and charge huge interest on it. It has been said in the report that behind these apps are the citizens of China, who run their illegal business by making the people of India directors in it. After taking a loan from these apps, when people have trouble paying interest on it, people are harassed with threats like leaking their personal information.

The matter came to the limelight in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after some people committed suicide after taking loans from these apps or losing money on betting apps. States like Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha had requested the Home Ministry to take action against these apps. Last year, the government asked internet search engine Google to implement stricter rules to stop the use of illegal lending apps. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ((MeitY) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Google Was instructed to rein in these apps. After the rise in fraud cases in the digital lending segment RBI had asked lenders to frame stricter norms for digital lending services.

Its purpose was to protect the borrowers from forgery. Google has changed its Store Developer Program policy for financial services apps. This includes additional terms and conditions for personal loan apps. To crack down on illegal digital lending platforms, the government and the RBI have asked Google to step up scrutiny and ensure that only loan apps approved by the regulator are available for download on the Google Play Store.