The Centre has issued an order to block 232 applications and websites, most of which have links to China, which can be viewed as signs that relations between the two nations remain fraught.
The order issued by Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) details the removal of 38 betting and gambling apps, and 94 credit services, according to new report by PTI.
This order from Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is following instructions from Ministry of Home Affairs. These apps were being operated from offshore entities, including Chinese and were posing a threat to the economic stability of the country.
Digital payments leader Paytm soared its most on record on Tuesday on the news. Shares of Paytm parent One 97 Communications Ltd., backed by Ant Group Co, soared as much as 20% in early trade after the company reported that it has narrowed losses in the December quarter.
The digital financial services provider’s consolidated net loss narrowed sharply to ₹392 crore in December 2022 quarter against the loss of ₹778.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, revenue climbed 42% to ₹2,062.2 crore in Q3FY23 versus ₹1,456.1 crore in Q3FY22,
The lending apps to be banned included its rivals such as Naspers Ltd.-backed PayU’s LazyPay, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances our website and app are currently unavailable via a few internet service providers. Please be assured that we are doing everything to resolve the issue,” PayU said.
PayU’s South African backer Naspers is also known for being the largest shareholder of Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government has moved to bar Chinese tech giants from the massive Indian market. This is after more than a dozen Indian soldiers died following a clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbors on a disputed Himalayan border. It has banned hundreds of services, including Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok.
RBI has also tightened digital lending regulations after it found some apps were allegedly flouting norms and harassing customers. Besides buy-now-pay-later service LazyPay, lending platform Kissht was among those unavailable in India.
India is also moving to rein in Chinese firms in other arenas. It’s considering restricting Chinese smartphone makers from selling devices cheaper than 12,000 rupees ($150) to kickstart its faltering domestic industry, dealing a blow to brands including Xiaomi Corp.
()with inputs from Bloomberg and PTI)
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