Google has reportedly removed more than 2000 loan apps from its Play store in india.

From January to June of this year, Google banned up to 2,000 loan apps from India’s Play Store due to compliance issues. These loan payment applications misrepresented information and displayed problematic offline behaviour, prompting Google India to take this action.

Saikat Mitra, Senior Director and Head of Trust and Safety, Google APAC (Asia Pacific region) said the company is commited to complying with regulations in all jurisdictions it operates in, and termed online harm as a “global phenomenon”. “We have removed 2000-plus loan apps from India Play Store from January till now,” Mitra said, adding the crackdown was based on leads and inputs received, violation of policy, lack of disclosures, and misinformation.

Google became aware of the unregulated lending apps after Reserve Bank of India introduced a regulatory framework to ban unregulated lending activities to save borrowers from harassment, blackmail and predatory lending.

The Google Play Store reviews apps before they are uploaded, but Mitra also disclosed that many criminal acts were reported offline in the case of loan apps. Blackmail and intimidation related to loan repayment have been reported by several interns.

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.