The Ministry of Home Affairs has called for action against unauthorized use of personal data across various platforms. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has instructed the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) to crack down on all forms of unauthorized use of personal data of Indian citizens across multiple platforms.
Driving the news: The Income Tax department has been directed by I4C to stop unauthorised database access, targeting fintech companies’ data harvesting practices.
Why it matters: Fintech and loan companies have been using PAN numbers to:
- Pull customer details including addresses
- Access phone numbers
- Obtain full names
- Build customer profiles
- Cross-sell products like personal loans
But why: The Union government wants every unauthorized access to the system database to be restricted in the event of the notification of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The Act will bring in strict checks on who can access citizens’ data and for what purpose. To tighten its systems, the government is taking up this move.
Industry disruption: The fintech industry, which used technology to streamline processes like credit underwriting, data gathering, and similar services, is finding many such avenues getting shut. Recently, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) asked banks to shut down any unauthorized access to the UPI database.
