Non-Chinese lending services LazyPay and Kissht have become unavailable to users after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY’s) February 5 order which blocked 232 apps involved in unauthorised loan services, betting and gambling.
See update here: MeitY revokes ban on LazyPay, Kissht websites
While both apps continue to be available on Play Store, their websites were not reachable since Monday morning. This created lot of confusion for customers who were supposed to make their repayments by first week of February and were not able to pay the dues.
“I have an over due of ₹1,255 but you have blocked me from opening my lazypay application and even blocked me from your website and I’m trying to repay through SMS links but its not working because you have blocked me from all the source, tell me how should I pay?,” wrote Bankim Sarkar, a LazyPay user.
Similarly, a customer of Kishht, Manoj Prasad said, “your application and website is not working, unable to make payment, today is the last day, kindly fix it.”
According to an industry source, who spoke to businessline on condition of anonymity, “it is surprising that LazyPay was blocked because it is backed by Netherlands-based PayU and not a Chinese investor. However, Kissht has certain Chinese connections and that seems to be the reason for it getting blocked.”
LazyPay and Kissht did not respond to businessline ‘s query seeking comments.
“The Kissht app and website are working for its customers. We are aware that Google has been asked to take down a list of companies from the Play Store that includes our company but uncertain about the cause of such notification. We are meeting officials tomorrow to seek clarification. Kissht has no Chinese stakeholders,” a Kissht spokesperson said in a statement released after the publication of the story.