Despite RBI red flag, unauthorised e-trading platforms just a click away

Alert list prompted a back-and-forth communication between FinMin and MeitY to take down the apps from Play Store. However, no government agency issued blocking orders

Several unauthorised electronic trading platforms (ETPs) — mostly domiciled overseas — continue to be available for downloads, despite being on the alert list of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the absence of takedown mandates to app stores.

The RBI in September 2022 had released an alert list on the apps for not being authorised to deal in foreign exchange under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) or Electronic Trading Platforms (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018. This was followed by another updated alert in February this year, which provides a list of 48 such unauthorised platforms.

People familiar with the matter