In a major step, after a fierce Zee Business campaign #OperationHaftaVasooli, to save loan takers from predatory digital lending apps which used abusive behaviour and worse to put pressure on borrowers, tech giant Google has removed more than 453 digital personal loan apps from the Google Play Store in crackdown against unfair online lending. After this campaign led by Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi, a large number of people and government agencies had expressed concern about these companies' apps. 

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In Crackdown, More than 453 digital personal loan apps removed 

Google on Thursday said that applications that violate the User Safety Rules Act were immediately removed from the Play Store. Although Google did not clarify how many apps it has removed from the Play Store, but according to Zee Business information, Google has removed 453 applications from the Play Store since our program was shown on Zee Business channel on December 28. All these applications were found to be in violation of the rules and the explanation sent by them was not considered satisfactory by Google.

Within the last 10 days, Google has removed 117 applications from the Play Store. Google has asked the rest of the application's developers to explain as soon as possible how they are complying with local laws and regulations. If they fail to do so, then those applications will also be removed from the Play Store.

On Thursday, Google said in a Blogpost: "Our global product policies are designed and implemented with this goal in mind-- providing a secure experience of products available on Google's platform is our top priority. We are constantly working to improve the safety of consumers."

'We have reviewed hundreds of digital lending applications in India, which were raised by consumers and government agencies.The app, which is in violation of the Consumer Protection Policy, has been immediately removed from the Play Store," the company said in a statement.

However, in a big concern, a Zee Business investigation also found that the deleted applications in the last few days can be seen again on the Play Store! Like CashBus was removed from the Play Store by Google, but this application is again on the Play Store.