Govt to crack whip on illegal loan apps

Faced with an increasing number of suicides by people duped by illegal loan apps, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday convened a meeting which decided that only apps “whitelisted” by the RBI would be allowed to be hosted by app stores.

The RBI will prepare a “whitelist” of all legal apps and the Ministry of Electronics and IT will ensure that only these “whitelist” apps are hosted on app stores. The RBI will monitor the “mule or rented” accounts that may be used for money laundering and to review/cancel dormant NBFCs to avoid their misuse.