ED probing criminal proceeds of Rs 2,116 crore acquired from illegal loan apps: Govt

In these cases, total proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 2,116 crore has been identified, out of which proceeds of Rs 859.15 crore has been seized by ED under the PMLA, the government informed the Parliament.

Further, assets amounting to Rs 289.28 crore have also been seized under section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, the finance ministry added to the written answer.

The answer was in response to a question regarding the government’s efforts towards addressing issues of money laundering through illegal loan apps.

The finance ministry said that RBI had furnished a list of digital lending apps used by regulated entities (of RBI) to MeitY, which in turn, has shared the list with respective intermediaries (app stores).

MeitY has requested these intermediaries to ensure that “only the apps figuring in the list” (which are used by regulated entities) should be hosted on their app stores.

Discover the stories of your interest

The government added that RBI has issued a master circular, advising banks and financial institutions to follow certain customer identification procedures for opening of accounts and monitoring of transactions of suspicious nature. The government, on Sunday had issued orders to block 138 betting and gambling apps and 94 quick loan-providing apps on an “urgent” and “emergency” basis for “improper data storage and transfer” to other countries as well as money laundering, ET had reported.

The home and IT ministries, along with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will hold discussions over the next few days to decide on the next steps after the government blocked 94 online lending apps earlier this week, ET reported on February 8.

Founders of several lending platforms met officials of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) in New Delhi on Tuesday, people who attended these meetings told ET, a day after internet service providers started taking down websites of online lending companies.

PayU’s LazyPay and Kissht are among the non-Chinese apps that have found mention in the blocking order. While PayU is owned by South African and Dutch group Naspers, Chinese conglomerate Fosun owned more than 17% stake in Kissht, but later divested its stake to various Singapore government funds.