Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an event organized in Bengaluru, Karnataka, cautioned citizens to be prudent while making financial decisions; without falling prey to Financial Influencers’ advice.
In light of the increasing influence of online personalities on the decision-making of people and the rising ponzi apps offering easy and quick financial advice endorsed by these influencers, FM Sitharaman addressed the issues.
During her address, she said there is no proposal, at present, to regulate “fin-fluencers,” but pinned a word of caution is necessary.
“If there are three or four people giving us very objective, good advice, there are seven others out of 10 who are probably driven by some other considerations,” she cautioned.
Sithraman admonished people to refrain from the Ponzi apps offering financial solutions in India.
“There are also apps which are coming out and reaching out to people saying, ‘We can do this. We can do that. Your money will fetch you this much.’ Many of whom are Ponzi,” she noted.
The Finance Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to stamp out these fraudulent apps and protect the interest of citizens from financial scams.
The ministry is “clamping down on them like never before so that we don’t get that Ponzi apps taking away hard-earned money,” Sitharaman said.
She urged individuals to be prudent in decision-making and not let their hard-earned money go in vain. While the finfluencers will be there on social media, it is on the person to act reasonably and protect their own right.
Advising on how to protect oneself from being a victim of such scams, Indian citizens should double-check, counter-check and talk to other people.
“We have to be careful. It’s our hard-worked money. You’ve earned it. You save it. You protect it,” Sithraman said.