By Jayshree P Upadhyay and Nishit Navin

March 25 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google will

label verified investment apps on its app store in India, a move

aimed at helping users spot legitimate trading platforms and

avoid scams, a senior official at the Securities and Exchange

Board of India said on Wednesday.

Only brokers and intermediaries registered with the SEBI,

India's markets regulator, will be allowed to carry a verified

badge, which will help users distinguish between legitimate

platforms and fraudulent apps.

Around 600 financial services apps in India have already

been assigned the verified label, said Aditya Swamy, managing

director at Google Play, at an event with the SEBI, adding that

the company was committed to building an ecosystem of trusted

investment apps.

Lately, there has been a rise in online financial frauds in

India, with scams spreading across apps and social media,

sometimes involving unregulated financial influencers promoting

high-return opportunities that are often high risk.

To curb fraud, the SEBI has barred regulated entities from

associating with unregistered financial influencers and taken

enforcement action against social media influencers for offering

unauthorised investment advice, including market bans and fund

impoundment.

"The verified badge will make it difficult to impersonate

genuine financial services apps," SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta

Pandey said.

Pandey added that the regulator has worked out mechanisms

with Google and Meta to bar unregistered financial entities from

getting advertisements for their content.

SEBI will also sign agreements with the country's

electronics and IT ministry within a month to strengthen

coordination in tackling financial fraud, said Jeevan Sonparote,

director at the regulator.

(Reporting by Jayshree P. Upadhyay in Mumbai and Nishit Navin

in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shinjini Ganguli)