New Delhi: Due to safety concerns, Google has removed nearly 2000 personal loan apps from its Play Store in India. Google reported that 2000 apps account for more than half of all lending apps. Since the beginning of the year, the apps have been removed. Google shifted its focus to lending apps in India after the Reserve Bank of India issued a framework for prohibiting unregulated lending activities in order to protect borrowers from harassment, blackmail, and predatory lending.
“Supported by local research and feedback from our stakeholders, we have been updating the Google Play policies associated with personal loan apps in India,” said Saikat Mitra, Senior Director and Head of Trust & Safety for Google Asia-Pacific. He went on to say that the apps posed a risk to Indian users, so the company decided to remove them after consulting with law enforcement.
Mitra also revealed that when apps are uploaded to the Google Play Store, they are reviewed, but in the case of loan apps, many criminal activities were reported outside of the internet world. Several interns have reported cases of loan repayment harassment and blackmail.
“We have been engaging with the industry and law enforcement agencies to help address these issues ever since we learned about user harm due to predatory practises adopted by some of the personal loan apps,” Mitra was quoted as saying by the Business Standard.
Google became aware of the unregulated lending apps after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recommended a law prohibiting unregulated lending activities (BULA). Mitra went on to say that India currently lacks government-approved apps. Loan apps that appear to be harmless may pose a risk to users in the real world. He is not, however, in favour of a blanket ban on personal lending apps because he believes there are some good ones. People require credit, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic and job losses. “There are dozens of good loan apps for every bad loan app,” he said.
