PayPal to resume bank withdrawals in India

Online payment service provider Paypal says it will resume bank withdrawals in India from Wednesday, 3 March, while personal payments into India would continue to remain suspended until further notice.

With the resumption of its services, exporters would be able to make use of PayPal for transactions related to goods and services.

The company had to halt personal payments in India due to objections raised by Indian regulators regarding personal payments. They wanted clarification on whether these constituted remittances - or money transfers that foreign workers made into into India. (See: PayPal blocks payments in India )

The abrupt suspension of services caught many users unawares and left many PayPal customers high and dry with their money locked up in PayPal accounts. PayPal had planned to resume withdrawals to Indian banks on 14 February, but this had to be deferred due to certain complications.

"We anticipate that as of Wednesday, March 3rd, we will be able to resume the bank withdrawal service," Farhad Irani, head of PayPal's Asia Pacific business, wrote in a blog post.

"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."