In a bid to curb rising digital financial frauds, the (SEBI) on Wednesday partnered with Google to introduce a ‘verified’ badge for investment apps on the Play Store, allowing users to identify legitimate, registered intermediaries.
Only apps of SEBI-registered entities will carry the verification mark. The label has been rolled out for over 600 stock broker apps and will be extended to other intermediaries in due course.
At the launch, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said it is a critical investor protection measure amid surging retail participation and increasing digital risks. “This initiative is not just about a label on an app. It is about trust and safety. It is about helping investors distinguish the genuine from the fake,” he said.
India’s securities market now has over 140 million unique investors, with market capitalisation nearing ₹423 trillion, Pandey said, adding that the next wave of retail participation is still ahead. “Growth has to be matched by protection. We must make the journey of first-time investors safer,” he said.
The move comes against the backdrop of a spike in fraudulent investment apps and online scams, often promoted through social media and unregistered financial influencers. Fraudsters typically lure users with the promise of assured returns and push them to download lookalike apps, leading to financial loss and erosion of trust.
“The verified badge will help investors identify genuine apps and make impersonation harder,” Pandey said, reiterating the regulator’s message: “First verify. Then invest.”
Building a trusted app ecosystem
Google said the initiative is part of a broader effort to build a trusted financial app ecosystem. Aditya Swamy, Managing Director of Play Partnerships at Google, said around 600 financial services apps in India have already been assigned the verified label.
SEBI has also taken parallel steps to tighten the digital ecosystem, including barring regulated entities from associating with unregistered influencers and working with major platforms to restrict advertisements by unregistered financial entities. An API-based framework is already in place to ensure that only verified intermediaries can run ads on the Google and Meta platforms.
The regulator has intensified surveillance of misleading online content, with over 1.3 lakh instances flagged for takedown and dozens of fake trading apps removed from app stores.
Looking ahead, SEBI said it will sign an agreement with the Ministry of Electronics and IT within a month to strengthen coordination in tackling financial fraud.