Central government delete over 4700 Apps from Play Store

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) and Google have removed 4,700 fraudulent apps from the Play Store in the last 2.5 years.

By News Next Live On Feb 7, 2024 - 9: 19 am

Central government delete over 4700 Apps from Play Store — Image Credit to Original Source

Narendra Modi lead central government has taken a significant step with Google regarding loan giving apps. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) and Google have removed 4,700 fraudulent apps from the Play Store in the last 2.5 years.

Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad gave this information in Parliament. The government is actively cooperating with the RBI and other regulatory bodies to curb the menace of illegal loan applications. Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad told the Rajya Sabha that the RBI has shared a list of 442 unique digital lending apps with METV and the same list has been shared with Google.

MEITY has partnered with Google to remove or suspend over 4,700 fraudulent loan apps from the Play Store over the past two and a half years. Around 2,500 loan applications were removed between April 2021 and July 2022 in this campaign, while 2,200 applications were removed between September 2022 and August 2023. He said that Google has implemented strict policies for loan applications.

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From April 2021 to July 2022, Google reviewed close to 4,000 loan apps on its Play Store, suspending or removing over 2,500 of them. This crackdown was followed by the elimination of more than 2,200 fraudulent loan apps from September 2022 to August 2023. These actions align with Google’s updated policy, which enforces stricter controls on loan apps, permitting only those that conform with the updated policy guidelines.

Government and RBI Interventions:

Alongside Google’s actions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rolled out regulatory guidelines on digital lending to fortify the regulatory framework and bolster customer protection. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has been actively monitoring digital lending apps to curb fraudulent activities.

Furthermore, the government has taken steps to empower citizens in reporting cyber incidents, including those related to illegal loan apps, by launching the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and establishing a dedicated helpline number.