By Jayshree P Upadhyay and Nishit Navin
March 25 (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google will label verified investment apps on its app store in India, a move aimed at helping users spot legitimate trading platforms and avoid scams, a senior official at the Securities and Exchange Board of India said on Wednesday.
Only brokers and intermediaries registered with the SEBI, India’s markets regulator, will be allowed to carry a verified badge, which will help users distinguish between legitimate platforms and fraudulent apps.
Around 600 financial services apps in India have already been assigned the verified label, said Aditya Swamy, managing director at Google Play, at an event with the SEBI, adding that the company was committed to building an ecosystem of trusted investment apps.
Lately, there has been a rise in online financial frauds in India, with scams spreading across apps and social media, sometimes involving unregulated financial influencers promoting high-return opportunities that are often high risk.
To curb fraud, the SEBI has barred regulated entities from associating with unregistered financial influencers and taken enforcement action against social media influencers for offering unauthorised investment advice, including market bans and fund impoundment.
“The verified badge will make it difficult to impersonate genuine financial services apps,” SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
Pandey added that the regulator has worked out mechanisms with Google and Meta to bar unregistered financial entities from getting advertisements for their content.
SEBI will also sign agreements with the country’s electronics and IT ministry within a month to strengthen coordination in tackling financial fraud, said Jeevan Sonparote, director at the regulator.
(Reporting by Jayshree P. Upadhyay in Mumbai and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shinjini Ganguli)
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