SUMMARY
More than 232 apps with Chinese links, including 138 betting apps and 94 loan apps, were banned by Indian authorities on February 5
Many digital loan apps that have no Chinese links were also part of the app ban, sources say
The ban comes amidst an uptick in suicide cases related to digital lending apps, especially those involving Chinese nationals and entities
Homegrown digital lending apps such as Prosus-backed LazyPay and Kissht have been caught in the crossfire of the recently imposed ban on Chinese lending apps.
Websites of LazyPay and Kissht are currently not accessible in the country. The access to these websites has reportedly been blocked in the country on the orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
A senior MeitY official confirmed the move to Economic Times, saying many digital loan apps that had no Chinese links were also part of the app ban announced by the Indian government on Sunday (February 5).
Reportedly, more than 232 apps with Chinese links, including 138 betting apps and 94 loan apps, were banned by the Indian authorities on Sunday.
“MeitY gets inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs for blocking apps and sites. The MHA may have received inputs from various law enforcement agencies, including state police cyber cells, which could have got complaints against some of the apps,” an official of the ministry was quoted as saying.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances our Website and App are currently unavailable via a few Internet Service Providers. Please be assured that we are doing everything to resolve the issue,” a PayU spokesperson said.
While the apps of both the platforms can be still downloaded from Android Play Store and Apple’s App Store, their websites are inaccessible.
The move comes amidst a big uptick in reports related to digital lending platforms harassing and intimidating users. In many cases, the pressure tactics deployed by these platforms forced many die by suicide or take extreme measures.
A good number of these reports involve Chinese-linked entities, or Chinese apps. Many instances of Chinese entities laundering the deposits of users to other countries and charging exorbitant amounts of interest from Indian consumers have also come to light.
Last year, the matter had escalated to such an extent that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tasked RBI and MeitY to devise measures to ensure that only whitelisted loan apps are available on app marketplaces.
