In the first of two-part series, @artijourno brings startling facts about the process of weeding out unregulated lending apps.

1) Close to 400 apps were running on Play Store but only 40 have been traced. Loan apps are still running through APK links. https://themorningcontext.com/internet/inside-the-scramble-to-cut-off-chinese-loan-apps/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TMC

2) Payment gateways have blocked around 400-500 merchant IDs. Razorpay was able to freeze Rs 250-Rs 273 crore in their merchant IDs; Cashfree froze some Rs 24 crore; and Paytm’s was close to Rs 2.4 crore.

3) Both Razorpay and Cashfree said they have complied with the RBI’s two major guidelines. Any entity that offers digital loans has to either be licensed as an NBFC or have a partnership with a licensed NBFC or bank that issues the actual loans.

4) “We do KYC [know-your-customer] checks and that either it is an NBFC or has an agreement with an NBFC are in place. We assume that because an RBI-registered NBFC is involved, the regulator will monitor the activities of those NBFCs,” says Harshil Mathur.

5) Many point out that blocking apps on payment gateway platforms isn’t enough to stop anyone from lending or collecting money. Apps can continue to harass borrowers and demand repayments using Google Pay, PhonePe or various mobile wallets, not to mention direct bank transfers.

6) There are no clear legal grounds to even freeze funds belonging to these apps. “Legally, it is also a violation of our service agreement. That can cause business loss for them, those companies can also counter-sue us.”

7) Industry associations tried reaching out to Google to take action earlier, but not much came of it till the Telangana police’s announcements. Now, the Play Store is also adding new policies and mandatory declarations for all lending apps. https://themorningcontext.com/internet/inside-the-scramble-to-cut-off-chinese-loan-apps/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TMC