• By Vikas Yadav
  • Sat, 16 Sep 2023 05:30 PM (IST)
  • Source:ANI

Illegal loan apps have been one of the concerns of the Indian government owing to their tactics to harass citizens. Taking cognisance of this, the Indian government issued an advisory to tech players Google and Apple, directing them not to list illegal and unsafe apps on the Google Play Store and App Store, said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI, the Indian minister added that the government is monitoring the loan apps category and has taken down about 120 apps in the past six to eight months. Further, he added the government issued an advisory to restrict such apps on these reputed app markets.

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"Today both Google Play Store and the Apple App Store have many applications that are used by Indian citizens. We have been tracking one set of applications which are loan applications," he said.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT (Image:ANI)

"Just about six to eight months ago MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and the Home Ministry combined took down and blocked about 120 loan apps that were illegally operating in India. We have issued an advisory to both Google and Apple that they must not onboard unsafe or illegal apps," Chandrasekhar added.

Chandrasekhar added that the objective of the move is to keep the internet safe for "digital nagriks." The minister highlighted reports about a suicide in Kerala, the reasons for which are being investigated and the role of possible harassment from an illegal loan app that was available on the Play Store is being suspected as one of the reasons.

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These apps, with the promise of swift loan dispersal, levy exorbitant charges on the victim and then harass them for recovery via blackmail and other practices. "We intend to have the earliest meeting with the RBI to make sure there is a whitelisting norm," the minister stated. This will help ensure that only permitted loan apps are listed on these app stores.