Indian financial regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced what it calls an important investor protection measure, in the form of a new Verified Label for stock trading apps of brokers registered with SEBI, on Google Play Store.

SEBI said that the proliferation of fraudulent trading apps has posed a serious threat to retail investors, with scammers impersonating genuine apps that eventually deceive gullible investors in believing that their investments done through the fake apps are directed to the regulated securities market.

SEBI, in collaboration with Google, has taken this initiative to implement a first-of-its-kind “Verified” badge on Google Play. To start with, the Verified badge will be used for all stock trading apps in India that are offered by entities that are registered with SEBI. Verified stock trading apps associated with SEBI registered entities will now display a ‘Verified’ label in the Google Play Store. Subsequently, the ‘Verified’ label will also be extended to apps of other regulated intermediaries.

SEBI Chairman Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey mentioned that this collaboration between SEBI and Google represents a major breakthrough in the ongoing battle against bad actors in the investment space.

Google Play Managing Director for India, Aditya Swamy, also mentioned that this is a unique public-private partnership towards the shared objective of investor protection, and that Google would be keen to further collaborate for further such initiatives.