Google said on Thursday that it took measures against more than 3,500 loan applications in India in 2022 for breaching Play Store policy rules. Google further stated that it prevented 1.43 million policy-breaking apps from being uploaded on Google Play in total and blocked 173,000 accounts that were harmful.

The company claims to have stopped over $2 billion worth of deceitful and abusive transactions in 2022. The company also mentioned that they aim to enhance its strategies in this domain by routinely modifying its policies and review procedures.

Earlier this month, Google modified its policy regarding personal loans, declaring that applications that offer or assist in providing personal loans will have limited access to sensitive information of users.

The information includes their contacts, location, photos, videos, files, or call logs. The revised policy came into effect on 31 May 2023.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of unregistered and fraudulent apps engaged in digital lending has caused significant concern for the Indian government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).

This issue dates back to 2020 when several of these apps lent money to unsuspecting customers at high-interest rates and employed aggressive loan recovery methods, leading many individuals to take their own lives.

In 2021, Google modified its Play Store developer program policy for financial services applications and established additional prerequisites for personal loan apps in India. These requirements include filing a declaration form, which confirms that the app is either licensed by the RBI to provide personal loans and gives a copy of the license or alternatively, certifies that it functions solely as a platform for facilitating money lending by licensed lenders.

In the meantime, Google announced its plans to implement a more privacy-conscious advertising approach in 2023. The company will introduce the first Beta for the Privacy Sandbox on Android, which will be accessible to a small proportion of Android devices.

“With the Beta, users and developers will be able to experience and evaluate these new solutions in the real world,” Google said in a blog post. The company also stated that it will work closely with developers, publishers, regulators, and other relevant stakeholders to navigate the transition towards a more secure mobile ecosystem.

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