Operation Hafta Vasooli Impact: Govt bans 138 betting and 94 loan apps with Chinese links

The government has initiated a process of banning and blocking around 138 Chinese betting apps and 94 loan apps identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This could be seen as an impact of Zee Business special campaign ‘Operation Hafta Vasooli’ launched against Chinese loan companies.

In this regard, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has started the process of blocking apps with Chinese links.

The home ministry had been reviewing the 288 betting and loan apps which had direct or indirect Chinese links since last six months, Zee Business Special Correspondent Ambarish Pandey said.

During a review, it was discovered that Chinese-linked applications were sending sensitive information/data outside the country, including users’ personal data.

The ministry had also observed an activity of extortion and intimidation through these applications, Pandey further said in his report.

Earlier in September, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued guidelines concerning digital lending and asked financial institutions and banks to formulate systems in order to comply with RBI's modified digital lending norms.

Operation Hafta Vasooli  

Under the “Operation Hafta Vasooli” campaign, Zee Business investigated approximately 250 digital lending applications and their parent companies, and found that many companies charged a 36-40 per cent rate of interest for short-term loans (with 15-30 days maturity) with exorbitant processing fees and heavy penalties.

The worst part was the method of recovery adopted by third-party agents, which included calling customers at odd hours, humiliating them on social media with abusive posts, creating WhatsApp groups of friends and relatives using contact data extracted through the app, and posting expletives.

Besides, the borrowers were also threatened to post private photographs on social media if dues with heavy penalty and interest were not cleared as per their whims.

Zee Business also exposed how the Chinese investors are misusing Indian non-banking and finance companies (NBFCs) and earning huge returns in the process.