MeitY Revokes Ban On Some Digital Lending Apps; LazyPay, Kissht Unblocked

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked internet service providers (ISPs) and Google to unblock some of the digital lending apps and websites against which it issued ban orders earlier this week, sources told Inc42.

LazyPay, Kissht, BuddyLoans, Indiabulls Home Loans, Faircent and mPokket are among the digital lending apps against which the ban order has been revoked by MeitY, the sources added. The websites of these companies are also working fine.

The development comes a day after a group of more than 15 digital lending apps met MeitY officials to make a presentation and submit the relevant documents showing that they are regulated entities. The officials have received documents from these players and have been scrutinising them to see whether a ban is required or not, a source told ET.

The government has concluded that some apps would not be banned and therefore is revoking some of the orders.

Commenting on the revocation of the ban, Kissht founder Ranvir Singh said, “We thank the government of India and MeitY for revoking the order to block Kissht. The government has shown unrelenting support in ensuring that credible and fully compliant apps such as Kissht continue to work towards greater financial inclusivity in the country.”

Earlier this week, the government ordered a ban on 138 online betting apps and 94 digital lending apps for their alleged connections with China. The digital lending apps also came under scrutiny for their shady recovery tactics and increasing customer complaints regarding the same.

Further, the government is also verifying if the digital lending apps that have a domicile outside India are storing their customers’ data in India.

KreditBee, TrueBalance, Avail Finance and Indiabulls Home Loans were among the apps that were on Meity’s list of apps to be banned.

However, most of the apps that were on the list are working fine as of now, which is likely due to the fact that Google is yet to block any apps mentioned in the order.

However, the likes of KreditBee, TrueBalance and PayMe said that the links mentioned in the list led to third-party app stores, and were clone apps unrelated to them. The companies also said that they didn’t receive any communication from MeitY as of Tuesday.

Commenting on the ban on the apps, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday (February 8) said, “We have given a list of apps which work with NBFCs (non-banking finance companies) to the government. On that basis, the government has taken this step.”