Google to impose strict guidelines for personal loans apps on Play Store

The tech giant had said that apps that provide personal loans, or have the primary purpose of facilitating access to personal loans (i.e., lead generators or facilitators), are prohibited from accessing sensitive data, such as photos and contacts, then the permissions prohibited are read or access external_storage, media_images, contacts, fine_location, phone_numbers and media_videos.

As per Google, “This policy applies to apps which offer loans directly, lead generators, and those who connect consumers with third-party lenders.” 

For India, it had urged personal loan apps to complete the Personal Loan App Declaration for India and provide necessary documentation to support their declaration for example if the company is licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide personal loans, then it must submit a copy of the license for review.

As per Google, “If you are not directly engaged in money lending activities and are only providing a platform to facilitate money lending by registered Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) or banks to users, you will need to accurately reflect this in the declaration. In addition, the names of all registered NBFCs and banks must be prominently disclosed in your app’s description.”

“If your app contains or promotes financial products and services, you must comply with state and local regulations for any region or country that your app targets – for example, include specific disclosures required by local law,” said Google.

The move came after last year in 2022, the tech giant was asked by the Indian government and the central bank to introduce more stringent checks to help curb the use of illegal digital lending applications in India, sources had told Reuters.

Even though Google doesn’t fall under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ambit, it was called several times in the last few months to meetings by the central bank and the Indian government and urged to introduce tougher checks and balances that could help in weeding out such apps. Google spokesperson had said that steps were taken and it had removed over 2,000 personal loan apps targeting India from the Play Store for violation of the Play policy requirements. 

Updated: 31 May 2023, 07:17 AM IST