India’s government and central bank have asked Alphabet’s Google to introduce more stringent checks to help curb the use of illegal digital lending apps in the country, sources said.
While Google does not fall under the scope of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it has been summoned several times in recent months by Indian officials and urged to introduce stricter checks and balances that could help weed out these applications, four sources said. .
Google said last year it revised its Play Store developer program policy for financial services apps, including requiring additional requirements for personal loan apps in India starting in September 2021.
“We have removed over 2,000 personal loan apps targeting India for violating Play Store policy requirements,” a Google spokesperson said, adding that such measures are taken if its policies are violated.
“We will continue to engage with law enforcement agencies and industry bodies to help address this issue,” the spokesperson added.
India’s digital lending market has grown rapidly and has facilitated $2.2 billion in digital lending between 2021 and 2022.
It’s unclear how much of this is through apps engaged in illegal practices.
While BC requires that lending apps in app stores be supported by regulated entities, it’s up to Google to enforce this and monitor compliance.
The company has also been urged to curb the growth of these apps through other distribution channels, such as websites and other download media, according to another industry source who is directly involved.
Google is also starting to act on complaints received from industry bodies.
“Previously, Google did not respond to complaints on individual apps. Now they are more proactive and analyze when a complaint is flagged to them,” said one of the four sources involved in the matter.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the RBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source: CNN Brasil

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