PayPal to Resume Some Operations in India

About a month ago, PayPal made the rather startling announcement that it had stopped all transactions in India. Small businesses and websites in the country weren't happy and the users weren't happy but, while some were quick to judge PayPal, it wasn't really its fault, as it had to do with the country's relatively recent laws concerning money laundering and the new regulations they imposed. Thankfully, it looks like PayPal managed to get things moving faster than it was expected and some bank operations will once again be available in the country starting with March 3.

"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, we will be able to resume the bank withdrawal service," PayPal's Farhad Irani wrote. Effectively, what it means is that businesses in India using PayPal will be able to get access to the money that has been locked off in their accounts for almost a month now. Considering the small margins by which many of these websites operate on, it should come as a great relief for many.

While it wasn't specified when PayPal first announced that it was halting all payments in India, it was later confirmed that the move came after official pressure. eBay's payments arm was forced to stop transactions after the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) complained of the lack of compliance with some of the newer regulations and policies.

When PayPal starts allowing businesses to access the money in their accounts again, there will be some changes to how it handles things in order to comply with the local law. Specifically, "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."