MeitY revokes ban orders on some digital lending apps

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday started revoking ban on some select digital lending apps including LazyPay, Kissht, Buddy Loan, and CashTM, among others after reviewing the apps and conducting meetings with the industry players. 

On February 6, the government ordered blocking of 232 apps – including 138 betting and gambling websites and 94 loan apps - operated by overseas entities, including Chinese that were engaging in illegal money laundering and posing a threat to financial security of the country.  

The blocking orders were given on an ‘urgent’ and ‘emergency’ basis under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000, in which the government can block content where it believes that the content threatens the security of the State; the sovereignty, integrity or defence of India. 
Today's move from the government reportedly came as the loan platforms submitted the documents to support their claim that they were regulated players. MeitY officials said that they will be informing the app hosting platforms like Google to revoke the ban and let the apps run as usual, sources said. 

Earlier today, a senior official from the IT ministry confirmed that it had given the banned digital apps 48 hours time to submit documents to prove regulated play.

“The decision will be taken based on their presentation. It is going on now,” the senior official told PTI. 

On February 8, 15 digital lending companies reportedly met MeitY officials in Delhi to discuss the issue of the ban. 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s Governor Shaktikanta Das further said in a statement, “We asked the NBFCs to give us a list of the apps they use for lending purposes. We have given that list to the government. And, the government has taken this step based on the list that we have provided.” 

According to a report published on January 12, 2022, by the Software Freedom Law Centre, India, the government blocked 55,607 URLs between January 2015 and September 2022. Of these, 26,474 URLs, or 47.6% were blocked under section 69-A of the IT Act, 46.8% for copyright infringement, and the remaining on charges including obscenity, pornography, and material related to child sexual abuse.