Experts flag dubious biz model of digital small money lending apps
Bengaluru (PTI): Digital small money lending apps backed by financial professionals are using dubious means in their business with borrowers bearing the brunt, experts have flagged.
These mobile apps offer loan of a few hundred rupees to about Rs 10,000.
"However, they hold back at least 25 per cent of the money in the name of processing fees and, further, the rate of interest is high in some cases, which is against the norm", says Bengaluru Additional Commissioner of Police, Raman Gupta.
He alleged that the role of financial professionals is shady in the operations of such kinds of instant loan apps on mobile phones.
"There is a major role of chartered accountants and company secretaries and these finance professionals in setting up such instant money lending companies. They become directors and name someone else as the operator," Gupta told PTI.
Gupta who had investigated dubious businesses of some of these mobile applications even agrees with the idea of blacklisting such financial professionals.
"The applications are developed in India and there are many software engineers here to develop it but the brain behind this business model is Chinese," he stated.
Another expert said these platforms at the time of downloading the application get access to the phone calls, photographs and videos, which are used to blackmail the borrowers.
"In some cases, these digital loan apps make a profit as high as 2,100 per cent," he said.
According to Gupta, these money-lenders hardly hire any recovery agents as they use the photographs, videos and contacts to blackmail people to cough up the amount.
"For recovery of their dues from defaulters, these digital money lending operators send messages to the contacts accessed from the borrowers' phones, use the personal photographs and videos of the borrowers and in some cases morph the photograph of the money lenders and send them to the contacts on phone," Gupta said.
According to sources in the financial sector, the dubious means of digital money lending platform have claimed many lives, especially during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when people were in dire need of money, and unable to pay back on time.
Police sources also pointed out at various instances of people ending their lives over the matter but did not divulge any numbers.
Gupta added "the only way is awareness among people against these applications. No one should download them. Also, the digital money lending platforms should be regulated and a policy should be formulated." PTI GMS RS SA SS
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China confirms its support to Pakistan during four-day conflict with India
Beijing (PTI): China, for the first time, has confirmed that it provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during the four-day conflict with India last year, official media reports here said.
China's state broadcaster CCTV on Thursday aired an interview with Zhang Heng, an engineer from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China's (AVIC) Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, a key developer of China’s advanced fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle design.
Zhang had provided technical support to Pakistan during the four-day war last May, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported, quoting CCTV.
Pakistan's air force operates a fleet of Chinese-made J-10CE jets, produced by an AVIC subsidiary.
"At the support base, we frequently heard the roar of fighter jets taking off and the constant wail of air-raid sirens. By late morning, in May, the temperature was already approaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). It was a real ordeal for us, both mentally and physically,” Zhang said.
What drove his team was the "desire to do an even better job with on site support” and to ensure their equipment could “truly perform at its full combat potential”, Zhang told CCTV.
“That wasn’t just a recognition of the J10CE; it was also a testament to the deep bond we formed through working side by side, day in and day out,” he said.
