Mar
17
For a few days after March 1, 2011, Paypal users in India got the following notification after logging in to their Paypal account.
Notification for PayPal users in India
With effect from 1 March 2011, you are required to comply with the requirements set out in the notification of the Reserve Bank of India governing the processing and settlement of export-related receipts facilitated by online payment gateways (“RBI Guidelines”).
1.Any balance in and all future payments into your PayPal account may not be used to buy goods or services and must be transferred to your bank account in India within 7 days from the receipt of confirmation from the buyer in respect of the goods or services; and
2.Export-related payments for goods and services into your PayPal account may not exceed US$500 per transaction. Click here to learn more.
Go to My Account
The notification did not appear for a few days, but it is now again visible.
Other than blocking mass payments , no other major changes have appeared in Paypal site for Indian users. Many personal and premier account holders have been able to send money from their account and receive money, though some Paypal business account holders have had the $500 restriction implemented and accounts limited. Paypal users who have written to Paypal support have been told that their accounts are being monitored. A similar rule seems to be implemented in Turkey without advance notification with users unable to pay from Paypal balance.
Till January 2010, any Paypal user could have one business and one personal account as per Paypal’s Terms of Service. After Paypal wanted users to associate a PAN number with each account, some users had to choose between the business and personal account, since a PAN number could be associated with one account only. With the new changes users now face the following disadvantages:
1. They are forced to withdraw at the prevailing exchange rate, earlier they could time their withdrawals to get the best exchange rate.
2. Higher exchange rates for payments in US$ - Visa/ Mastercard charge around Rs 47/$ , Paypal charges approx. Rs 46/$ .
Jan
30
From https://www.paypal-apac.com/india/
In order to comply with the RBI Guidelines, our user agreement in India will be amended for the following services as follows:
1.Any balance in and all future payments into your PayPal account may not be used to buy goods or services and must be transferred to your bank account in India within 7 days from the receipt of confirmation from the buyer in respect of the goods or services; and
2.Export-related payments for goods and services into your PayPal account may not exceed US$500 per transaction.
Many online publishers / webmasters earn more than $500 from advertising from a single source, so the ad network will either split the payments or use alternate payment methods. As conditions change, you always find new methods.
Apr
1
ICICI Bank
For credits into ICICI Bank NRI accounts:
Nominal foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax). In case, of cross currency conversion there will be a charge of USD 1, EUR 0.5, GBP 0.5, CAD 1, AUD 1, SGD 1, AED 4 and JPY 100 (inclusive of service tax).
For FC Cheques sent on Collection, correspondent bank charges and courier charges as incurred will be additionally levied, wherever applicable.
For credits into ICICI Bank Domestic accounts:
Provisional Credit (Credit in 8 days) -0.25%, subject to minimum of Rs. 350. There will be a foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax).
Non – Provisional Credit (Credit in 21 days) – 0.125%, subject to minimum of Rs. 250. There will be a foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax).
The charge for cross currency conversion will be USD 1, EUR 0.5, GBP 0.5, CAD 1, AUD 1, SGD 1, AED 4 and JPY 100 (inclusive of service tax).
HDFC bank
FCY Cheque Collection and Lockbox (FCY personal cheque, FCY DD’s and TC’s sent for collection) 0.25% of INR value (Min. Rs. 250/- per transaction)
Plus Courier of Rs. 50/- per cheque
For Transactions value upto USD 500 – Rs 200/- per transaction plus courier charge Rs. 50/- per instrutment
Foreign Exchange Conversion Fees – Rs. 90.64 (plus service tax and education cess)
Foreign Exchange Conversion Fees charged by HDFC bank seem to be higher than those charged by ICICI bank
Mar
2
Paypal has published a list of export codes on their blog for bank withdrawals to business accounts, which will start from March 3, 2010.
Most codes are applicable for goods exporters and service providers. For bloggers and online publishers, the codes P0805 and P0806 seem to be applicable
They also seem to have started charging a fee for personal payments already. There is no mention of how Paypal mass payments will be considered. Some ad networks have already started sending checks and using other payment options, which are less problematic.
At present withdrawals to Indian bank accounts have been disabled, you get the following message
We are making some changes to our product in compliance with India regulations for settlements for exports of goods and / or services. During this time, we have temporarily suspended the ability to withdraw money to your bank account. We hope to resume settlements to enable you to withdraw funds to your local bank account without delays.
As part of the changes, you will also be required to fill out a new field entitled ‘Export Code’ when you request a withdrawal. This information is required in order to identify the nature of cross-border merchant transactions.
Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you must be facing. Please be assured that we are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and we will make sure to keep you updated.
Feb
27
It appears that Paypal will be resuming bank withdrawals to India by March 3, 2010, but business account holders will have to provide an IEC (Import Export Code) number.
I got the following email today:
Dear ***,
We have been diligently working with the RBI and our business
partners to resume Indian bank withdrawals for the thousands
of Indian businesses who depend on PayPal to sell their goods
or services in the global marketplace.
Today, we are happy to announce that the RBI has allowed us
to continue local bank withdrawals for settlements for exports
of goods and services. We are currently making changes to
comply with Indian regulations for settlements for exports of
goods and services, and we anticipate that, as of Wednesday,
March 3rd, customers will be able to use our
bank withdrawal service.
As part of the changes, you will be required to fill out a
new field entitled ‘Export Code’ when you request a withdrawal.
This information is required under the current laws of India in
order to identify the nature of cross-border merchant transactions.
On Monday, March 1st, we will be back in touch with specific
instructions on how you can move your money into your bank account.
Moving forward, the RBI has told us that PayPal needs specific
approvals to allow personal remittances to India, which we
currently do not have. Until we get these approvals, personal
payments into India will remain suspended. However, if you are
an exporter, you will continue to be able to use the PayPal
service for payments of goods and services. In fact, with the
changes we are making to our system, PayPal is now set to be a
more powerful engine for exporters in India. With purpose codes
for export transactions and FIRCs (Foreign Inward Remittance
Certificates), you should now be able to get the export
related benefits you seek.
You can check the PayPal blog for additional updates.
www.thepaypalblog.com
We thank you for your business and for your patience during
the past few weeks.
Sincerely,
PayPal
Feb
21
For most users of Paypal, there has been no major update this week on transfers from Paypal to Indian bank accounts.
Direct transfer of funds from Paypal to Indian bank accounts is still not possible. Paypal seems to be contacting business account holders with large balances of over $10 K and offering them the facility to withdraw the balance by wire transfer to their bank accounts. Many eBay sellers need the funds for buying new stocks. However, many banks charge a fee for incoming wire transfer , but the exchange rates are usually higher for SWIFT transfers than the rate Paypal offers. The eBay sellers seem to have been contacted by Paypal directly or through their Paypal account manager.
Currently Indian Paypal account holders can withdraw using a credit card or check. For both there is a $5 withdrawal fee, but the $5 fee for checks will be reimbursed according to the official Paypal blog. Earlier there was no limit on withdrawals for certain business accounts, but now there is $2500 monthly limit for check withdrawal. The checks are sent in Indian Rupees, drawn on Citibank.
Many Indian freelancers with a verified Premier and Personal account could withdraw money from their Paypal balance using Xoom , but now they are facing problems since intra-India transfers using Xoom seem to be getting blocked since 21 February. RBI seems to have imposed restrictions on Xoom and the issue may be resolved in 2-3 months.
The issue seems likely to get resolved by March 10, 2010, when there is going to be a new Paypal policy update and all payments to Indian personal accounts will be charged a fee similar to that charged for premier and business accounts.
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