

Indian Government Restricts PayPal - RealGeek
http://www.justskins.com/ecommerce/paypal-india-problems/2616
With effect from March 1st, Indian users cannot receive payments of more than $500 in your PayPal account. Moreover, you cannot keep or use any funds in your PayPal account. You can use your PayPal balance to make send money for any goods or services, and must withdraw it to your bank account within 7 days of the receipt.
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mhlakhani
This may have happened in order to stop remittances. Indians abroad usually
send fair amounts of money back home to support their families, and using
Paypal they can avoid the official government taxes on those payments.

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FraaJad
This is not accurate. India has agreements with various countries around the
world to avoid Double Taxation. I don't pay taxes for the monies I send to
India to my parents because I've already paid taxes on my income in the USA.

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GiraffeNecktie
Sadly typical of an Indian bureaucracy whose core competency has forever been
to obstruct the free flow of money, goods and services, often for the purpose
of positioning well-connected fixers to extract lucrative commissions for
pulling the strings that would clear the "roadblocks"

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gnok
As much as I agree with you on your observations of Indian bureaucracy, I
think this case is slightly different.

The RBI wants to treat PayPal like a bank and subject it to the same
regulations as other banks (whether those regulations are fair or obstructive
is subject for another discussion).

PayPal wants to run around and be bank-like, but not really a bank.

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yummyfajitas
There is no shortage of banks. There is only one Paypal. If Paypal's customers
wanted a bank, they would go open an account at one of India's many actual
banks.

Who exactly is being helped by taking away the Paypal option from consumers
(besides bankers)?

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zandorg
Actually, there's a few Paypals out there, just not as big and successful as
Paypal, but people use them.

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statictype
The wording here is disingenuous.

The RBI (which deals with taxes and money regulation in India) requires
transactions above $500 to be reported.

Also, any entity which keeps money and does transfers on demand over a certain
period of time is deemed a bank and is subject to bank regulations.

Paypal is not interested in being treated like a bank in India - that would
mean paying interest on money they keep, among other things. So they decided
to put in these new rules and blame it on the government.

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amitagrawal
Sadly, the Indian Government is very slow on all things technology. This might
come as surprise in a country whose core competency has been technology!

If you don't believe me just visit any Indian Govt website and you'll quickly
realize how light years behind we really are. No wonder hackers across the
border show it to the world from time to time.

As far as the PayPal move goes its a very bad move considering that not many
own credit cards and there is no real way to pay money online for making
instant purchases in India. Not that I like PayPal.

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desigooner
At least understand the real reason (which someone aptly stated in one of the
comments above, money laundering and such) before talking about things that
have nothing to do with the decision.

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amitagrawal
Money laundering? Who are you kidding to? In India money laundering takes
place in broad daylight right under your nose and I'm sure Paypal's sure would
be a drop in the ocean. If you know what I'm talking about. Literally.

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desigooner
Oh I exactly know how it all works, hawala or otherwise.

Again, the question is not if it's a move that will deter such laundering and
so on. It's one of those things that you'd do to make people believe that
you're up to something.

