Digital Lending Platforms Kissht And PayU's LazyPay Inaccessible After Government Order
The government had blocked 232 apps operated by overseas entities, including those based in China, on Feb. 5.
Online lending platforms Kissht and LazyPay appear to have been swept up in a government crackdown on digital lending and gambling applications.
Backed by PayU, LazyPay provides buy-now-pay-later credit and Kissht is a small merchant-focused lender. The two platforms' websites were intermittently available on late Monday evening.
On a call with BQ Prime, Kissht's founder and Chief Executive Officer Ranvir Singh said their app and website aren’t banned yet, but were acting up arbitrarily for now. “It’s not loading sometimes, not confined or concentrated to a geography as far as we’re seeing," he said.
Singh said they have been in touch with Google, which informed them that they received a list from the Department of Communications on the list of apps that have to be banned. “Most companies that are on that list are non-Chinese. They’re of a comparable size to us,” he said, without divulging any names.
Google’s process of banning applications from its Play Store takes a day or two.
Singh said he hasn’t received a notice from any government authority yet. "We are meeting officials tomorrow to seek clarification," he said in a separate statement. Kissht also did not receive any prior notification from the government regarding the matter, Singh said, adding that the company has no Chinese stakeholders.
Queries sent to LazyPay remained unanswered.
On Feb. 5, the government had blocked 232 apps operated by overseas entities, including those based in China, for being involved in betting, gambling and unauthorised loan service, according to a report.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued orders to block these apps following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs.