Google on Thursday said that it had reviewed hundreds of personal loan apps in India and had removed those apps that violated its policies, from the Play Store.

However, the Internet giant did not disclose the number nor the names of the apps that were removed.

The apps were reviewed based on flags submitted by users and government agencies.

“The apps that were found to violate our user safety policies were immediately removed from the Store, and we have asked the developers of the remaining identified apps to demonstrate that they comply with applicable local laws and regulations,” Google India said in a blog post.

“Apps that fail to do so will be removed without further notice. In addition, we will continue to assist the law enforcement agencies in their investigation of this issue,” it said.

Guidelines

The tech giant clarified that all developers in the Play Store need to agree to the terms of the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement, which stipulates that “apps must adhere to applicable rules and laws, including generally accepted practices and guidelines.”

Google, in its policy to protect user privacy, has asked developers to seek permissions that are necessary to implement current features or services. They should not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes.

To protect user privacy, developers must only request permissions that are necessary to implement current features or services. They should not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes, it said.

“To help further ensure that users are making sound choices, we only allow personal loan apps with full repayment required in greater than or equal to 60 days from the date the loan is issued,” Google said.

Between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020, Google had received 890 requests from Indian government to remove content or app following allegations of law violations. The highest requests of 1,284 from the Indian government was in calendar year 2018.

On Thursday, Google also uploaded a new blog on ‘Protecting against harmful financial services products’.

Google’s crackdown on personal loan apps comes a day after the Reserve Bank of India announced that it has set up a Working Group (WG) to study all aspects of digital lending activities in the regulated financial sector as well as by unregulated players, in a bid to put in place an appropriate regulatory approach.

This move comes in the backdrop of the recent spurt and popularity of online lending platforms/mobile lending apps raising certain serious concerns which have wider systemic implications, said the central bank.

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