Overview
- Google, working with India’s market regulator SEBI, is adding a verified badge to eligible finance apps on Play, and the label is already live on about 600 of them.
- Only apps tied to SEBI-registered brokers or other licensed intermediaries can qualify, giving users a quick way to spot a legitimate trading platform.
- SEBI’s chair said the label will make it harder for scammers to impersonate real brokers through look‑alike apps.
- Google and Meta have agreed with SEBI to stop ads from unregistered financial outfits, cutting off a key channel for scam outreach.
- The badge adds a basic trust signal but does not remove investment risk, and it shifts part of investor protection to the app store as SEBI escalates action against fake apps and misleading finance influencers.