Show me the money, Pal

Delhi techies worried over suspension of PayPal transactions

Delhi techies worried over suspension of PayPal transactions

Supriya Tyagi, a Dwarka-based techie, used 19 currencies to shop across the world.

What's up Pal?

PayPal operates in 190 markets, and it manages over 184 million accounts, more than 73 million of them active. PayPal allows customers to send, receive, and hold funds in 19 currencies worldwide. Residents in 194 markets can use PayPal in their local markets to send money online.u00a0 PayPal is registered as a bank in Luxembourg under the legal name PayPal (Europe) Sarl et Cie SCA. A PayPal account can be funded with an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card. The recipient of a PayPal transfer can either request a check from PayPal, establish their own PayPal deposit account or request a transfer to their bank account.

Hold your horses. Tyagi is not the CEO of a multi-billion dollar enterprise or a hawala operator.

The techie's PayPal account gave him the independence to buy his favourite gadgets online from the global bazaar. But, he is a worried man now.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the popular e-commerce firm to close its India operations, as it is not registered with the central bank. A company is required to register withu00a0 the RBI to offer money transfer services.

Tyagi's account had $700u00a0 and he would not be able to use them until PayPal registers itself with the RBI to resume operations.

PayPal has suspended transactions to and from India for more than a week.

"For the last four years I have been using my Paypal account. I used to do all the money transfers online. Now, I could not even withdraw money from my account. I don't know when the problem will get over. I can only wait and watch for now," said Tyagi.

Neither the US-based PayPal nor the RBI was able to say when the issue would be resolved.

Another PayPal user Prateek Chaturvedi said, "This has affected genuine freelancers no doubt, but the PayPal was equally exploited by hawala operators. Millions of Indian freelance workers earning an online living had been seriously affected by this sudden and unilateral action by PayPal. I have more than $ 1500 in my PayPal accounts. Since PayPal is an important service, I hope they will be able to resolve the issue soon."

$16 billion PayPal's Total Payment Volume in Q1 2009

The Other Side

Personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in India have been suspended while we work with our business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service. We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. During this time, customers can still make commercial payments to India but merchants cannot withdraw funds in rupees to local Indian banks. --u00a0Anuj Nayar, PayPal spokesman, in a blog posted on PayPal website