RBI: Sources said the proposed agency would strictly verify digital lending apps and maintain a public registry of verified apps.
Illegal Loan Apps
The Reserve Bank is planning to set up the Digital India Trust Agency (DIGITA) to curb growing cybercrime and crack down on illegal lending apps.
Sources said the proposed agency would strictly verify digital lending apps and maintain a public registry of verified apps.
Apps without DIGITA’s ‘verified’ signature should be considered unauthorized in terms of law, so it will act as a crucial checkpoint in the fight against financial crimes in the digital sector, sources said.
They further mentioned that DIGITA will be entrusted with the responsibility of vetting digital lending apps.
According to sources, the verification process will help in creating transparency and accountability in the growing digital lending sector. Over the years, many people have lost their lives due to exploitation by digital lenders.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has given a list of 442 digital lending apps to the IT Ministry for whitelisting along with Google.
In addition, Google has removed more than 2,200 digital lending apps (DLAs) from its app store from September 2022 to August 2023.
Google Action
Google has updated its policy regarding the implementation of lending apps on the PlayStore. And only those apps are allowed, which are published by RBI’s Regulated Entities (REs) or work in partnership with REs.
Google has made this policy change at the request of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance.
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