New Delhi: Coordinated steps are being taken by the concerned Central Government Departments and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to curb Chinese mobile applications offering easy loans without paperwork and thereafter harass them for recovery, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The Finance Minister also said that she had held several meetings on the issue in the last six to seven months with officials of the central bank, the Finance Ministry, and of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
"A lot of apps that have been badly misused have also been brought to the attention of MeiTY...So there is a coordinated effort to contain such apps. And also to take action against those who are misusing," said Sitharaman.
"We have taken concentrated efforts. RBI, MeiTY, MCA, and the Ministry of Finance are working to ensure the common man is not cheated by any apps," she added. However, the Finance Minister did not divulge any further information as to what action has been taken and how many Chinese loan applications have been banned.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) is the nodal ministry that issues orders for blocking apps considered prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country as well as harmful to the citizens.
The Finance Minister was responding to a zero-hour issue raised by Trinamool Congress MP Nadimul Haque who claimed that some 600 apps offer small loans without much paperwork and thereafter harass borrowers for recovery.
He further alleged that a person recently committed suicide after being harassed for recovery of Rs 3,000 loan adding the apps gain access to private information on phones including contact lists, photos, and videos, and use them to blackmail borrowers. The TMC MP demanded strong action against such mobile applications.
