Government, RBI strengthen consumer protection measures against fraudulent loan apps
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued regulatory guidelines on digital lending, including loans through mobile apps and online platforms, and operationalised a public directory of digital lending apps to help borrowers verify their associations with regulated entities, the government said on Tuesday.
"RBI has issued regulatory guidelines on digital lending, which aims at firming up the regulatory framework for digital lending, including loans through mobile apps, while enhancing customer protection and making the digital lending ecosystem safe and sound," Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said in Rajya Sabha.
The directory of Digital Lending Apps (DLAs) was made live on July 1, 2025 on Ministry's website.
"All the Regulated Entities (REs) are required to comply with the said guidelines on digital lending. Compliance to these guidelines is examined on sample basis during supervisory assessment and any non-compliance observed is taken up for rectification apart from initiating supervisory or enforcement action," the minister said.
The ministry also cited other collaborative efforts with RBI to protect citizens from exploitation by unauthorized mobile loan apps.
It proactively engaged with the major internet intermediaries and messaging platforms to review the operations of unauthorised loan apps.
"Further, to disrupt the ecosystem of fraudulent digital loan apps, internet intermediaries have been instructed to institute stringent, technology driven vetting and real time enforcement mechanisms to detect and prevent malicious advertisement of illegal loan apps originating from offshore entities," the statement said.
The government has launched a National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and a National Cybercrime Helpline number “1930” for citizens to report cyber incidents including illegal loan apps.
The banks through the public facing platform ‘SACHET’ portal and the inter-regulatory State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) help citizens lodge complaints against specific entity related to deposit or illegal collection money collection.
Further, RBI and banks have been taking up awareness campaigns through short SMS, radio campaigns, publicity on prevention of ‘cyber-crime’, including illegal loan apps, the ministry noted.
