India’s capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, has teamed up with Google to introduce a new ‘Verified’ badge system for investment and trading apps on the Google Play Store. The initiative is designed to help users instantly identify legitimate applications that are linked to SEBI-registered entities, at a time when online scams targeting retail investors have been rising sharply.
Under the new system, only apps associated with brokers, intermediaries, and other financial service providers registered with SEBI are eligible to receive the verification badge. This label appears directly on the app’s listing page, serving as a visible trust marker for users before they download or engage with the platform. In the first phase, more than 600 investment-related apps have reportedly been verified.
For users, the development introduces a new standard of due diligence. Instead of relying solely on ratings, downloads, or promotional content, investors are now encouraged to check for the verification badge as a first step before engaging with any investment platform.
Most importantly, this initiative is likely to expand further in scope. While the current rollout focuses primarily on stockbroking apps, future phases may include other SEBI-regulated intermediaries like investment advisors, portfolio managers, and bond distribution platforms. There are also parallel discussions around strengthening verification mechanisms in adjacent areas, including digital payments, to better protect investors.
The move comes at a time when more and more people in India are investing in financial markets. The country now has around 140 million individual investors, and this number has grown quickly in recent years because of easier internet access, low-cost trading apps, and efforts to spread financial awareness. With the total value of India’s markets reaching over ₹423 lakh crore, regulators are especially focused on protecting new investors, many of whom are more likely to fall for misleading offers and online scams.
Notably, fraudsters are exploiting India’s growing digital investing market by creating fake apps that mimic popular trading platforms, promoted via social media and unregulated influencers, often causing users to lose money when withdrawals fail or the apps disappear. In response, SEBI has removed at least 66 fake trading apps and taken down over 130,000 misleading online posts and pages, while also tightening rules to prevent unregistered ‘finfluencers’ from promoting investment products and associating with regulated entities.
“This is a unique public-private partnership aimed at the shared objective of investor protection, and Google is keen to collaborate on further such initiatives,” Aditya Swamy (MD, Google Play) noted.
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