Following the recent directive from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to prohibit 94 mobile applications with ties to China, digital lending companies LazyPay and Kissht were banned.
According to Mint, some users have lost access. According to the report, LazyPay, PayU’s buy-now-pay-later platform, and Kissht, a loan provider, were not operating on major cellular networks.
On February 5, the government blacklisted 232 applications owned by foreign firms, including Chinese, for engaging in illicit lending services, according to PTI.
Following directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) issued orders to restrict certain apps.
According to an official, an order to restrict 138 applications involved in betting, gambling, and money laundering was issued. Another order has been issued to prohibit 94 applications that provide unlicensed loan services.
These applications were managed by offshore companies, notably Chinese, and posed a danger to the country’s economic stability, according to the official, as reported by PTI.
Kissht’s creator, Ranvir Singh, stated that the app and website remain operational, however he did notice a Play Store notification relating to Kissht, according to MInt.
“The Kissht app and website are working for its customers. We are aware that Google has been asked to take down a list of companies from the Play Store that includes our company, but uncertain about the cause of such a notification. We are meeting officials tomorrow to seek clarification,” he added.
He stated that the firm does not have any Chinese shareholders.