wordpress blog stats
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Four questions that remain despite Indian govt revoking ban on some lending apps

The Indian government has revoked the ban on at least seven digital lending apps inlcuding LazyPay, Kissht, and IndiaBulls Home Loans.

The Indian government has revoked the ban on at least seven digital lending apps including PayU’s LazyPay, Kissht, and Indiabulls Home Loans, Business Standard reported on February 10.

“The decision has been taken after receiving presentations from the platforms,” a government official told the news outlet.  Last week, some of the banned apps submitted documents on their shareholding pattern, regulatory certificates, compliance with various laws, etc. to the government to “prove their genuineness”.

Why does this matter: Earlier on February 5, the government issued orders to block 94 digital lending apps that reportedly had Chinese links, but it soon emerged that some loan apps without Chinese links, including popular ones like LazyPay, were also affected. This led to fear in the industry as the lack of clarity on why these apps were banned meant that anyone could be next, which is not a great environment to be in. The revocation of the ban should ease some of these fears.


STAY ON TOP OF TECH POLICY: Our daily newsletter with top stories from MediaNama and around the world, delivered to your inbox before 9 AM. Click here to sign up today! 


Which questions remain: 

  1. Why were these apps banned in the first place? What caused the government to include these apps on the ban list? Which Ministry/regulatory requested for these apps to be banned? Without clarity on these questions, the digital lending industry will continue to function on shaky grounds, which could harm investor interest in this fast-growing industry.
  2. Which apps are now un-banned? We know the names of some of the apps that have been removed from the blocking list, but there is no official list of all such apps, just like we don’t have a list of all apps that were banned in the first place. As usual, the government exercises its powers under Section 69A of the IT Act in secrecy.
  3. What caused the government to revoke the ban on some apps? What led the government to provide relief to some of the apps? Which documents had been submitted by these companies to appease the government? What concerns held by the government were addressed and how?
  4. Why is a mPokket “impersonator” being allowed? Lending platform mPokket, which seems to appear on the original ban list as “mpokket.en.aptoide.com” told Business Standard that the namesake app on Aptoide (a third-party Android app store) is a clear case of impersonation. “We suspect that it may be a proxy app on Aptoide and we are looking into it further. Blocking of such apps protects both the consumers and lenders,” mPokket commented. But the Indian government has removed the mPokket app on Aptoide from the blocking list, Economic Times reported. It’s not clear why the government did this despite mPokket clearly stating that the Aptoide link belongs to an impersonator. Did mPokket slip up and make a wrong statement, or did the government mess up and allow back a fraudulent app? ??‍♂️

This post is released under a CC-BY-SA 4.0 license. Please feel free to republish on your site, with attribution and a link. Adaptation and rewriting, though allowed, should be true to the original.

Also Read 

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

Written By

Free Reads

News

With GPS in every car, India's toll collection is going high-tech.

News

Google is currently undergoing the necessary procedures for the leasehold land, which is presently under the ownership of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

News

The pilot project for which is being launched in 19 cities this year, with a plan to launch a full-fledged rollout next year.

MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.

Views

News

NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe recently said that what is not written in regulations is a no-go for fintech entities. But following this advice could...

News

Notably, Indus Appstore will allow app developers to use third-party billing systems for in-app billing without having to pay any commission to Indus, a...

News

The existing commission-based model, which companies like Uber and Ola have used for a long time and still stick to, has received criticism from...

News

Factors like Indus not charging developers any commission for in-app payments and antitrust orders issued by India's competition regulator against Google could contribute to...

News

Is open-sourcing of AI, and the use cases that come with it, a good starting point to discuss the responsibility and liability of AI?...

You May Also Like

News

Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...

Advert

135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...

News

By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...

News

Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...

MediaNama is the premier source of information and analysis on Technology Policy in India. More about MediaNama, and contact information, here.

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ

Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Name:*
Your email address:*
*
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ