India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has begun a process to ban and block 138 laying apps and 94 loan lending apps with Chinese links, ANI reported on Sunday, citing sources. The Ministry of Home Affairs recommended the MeitY ban and block these apps by the coming week under Section 69 of India’s IT law, the report said. “The order to block 138 apps that were involved in lying, lying and plutocrat laundering were issued last evening. Independently, an order to block 94 apps engaged in un-authorised loan service has also been issued.
These apps were being operated from coastal realities, including Chinese. They were posing a problem to the profitable stability of the country,” the functionary, who didn’t wish to be named, told PTI. The blocking orders have been passed under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, it’s learnt. “A separate order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorised loan services has also been issued,” a elderly government functionary said.
Aiming to check rising malpractices in the digital lending ecosystem, the RBI, last August, issued guidelines for realities engaged in digital lending, with the morals stating that all digital loans must be expended and repaid through bank accounts of regulated realities only, without pass- through of lending service providers (LSPs) or other third parties. Over the last two times, the government has issued directions to block further than 400 apps, including social media, gaming, e-commerce, and print editing for posing a problem to India’s sovereignty. The list includes apps like TikTok, Garena’s Free Fire, PUBG and Shopee.