ed: China-backed fintech companies resorted to predatory lending, depositing 940 crore Rs in their pockets: ED
The federal agency said that decisions on setting interest rates / processing fees / platform fees, etc. were made by fintech companies and these companies were made by fintech companies and these companies operated based on instructions from people in China and Hong Kong.
The agency has recently provisionally added Rs86.65 crore to various bank accounts linked to non-banking activities under the Money Laundering Prevention Act (PMLA) 2002.
The non-banks included M / s Kudos Finance and Investments Pvt Lts, M / s Acemoney (India) Ltd, M / s Pioneer Financial and Management Services Pvt. Ltd. These are Indian NBFCs and several fintech companies affiliated with them.
The agency is conducting a money laundering investigation against a number of NBFCs that operate immediate personal microloans. The agency said their investigation had revealed that various fintech companies backed by Chinese funds have entered into agreements with these NBFCs to provide loans for terms of seven to 30 days.
Fintech companies brought the funds to be lent to the public and entered into memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the discontinued NBFCs for their lending license.
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Since fintech companies would hardly get a new NBFC license from RBI, they developed the MoU route with discontinued NBFCs to indulge in large lending activities, the agency said in a statement.
It was estimated that the NBFCs had hired fintech companies for customer discovery, but the fintech companies operated with the license of the NBFCs and ran large lending companies, said ED.
The agency said that NBFCs, namely Kudos, Acemoney, Rhino and Pioneer, entered into MoUs with foreign-backed fintech companies to conduct online lending activities in India.
ED has identified bank balances of Rs 86.65 crore on 155 bank accounts, and the same has been attached in accordance with the provisions of the PMLA to preserve the proceeds of crime.
Earlier in this case, a preliminary attachment order was issued against Kudos Finance and its fintech partners for Rs 72.32 crore. The total attachment in this case to date is Rs 158.97 crore.
