PayPal stops all EFTs to India

Update: 31 July 2010: EFTs resumed

After the recent issue (Paypal had completely stopped withdrawals to India citing RBI regulations) in february for Paypal’s Indian users, a new one has sprung up today.
The problems with regulatory authorities seem to have re-appeared and Paypal has stopped all Electronic Funds Transfer (EFTs) to Indian banks. Cheque withdrawals are still available and PayPal is also taking off the 5$ charge for requesting a Cheque.

It is not mentioned if this would be a temporary suspension of EFTs to India.

This is the notification Paypal has sent in an email to all Indian Paypal users (also posted on the Paypal blog):

Hi everyone, it’s Dickson Seow, from the Corporate Communications team. I’d like to give you an update on PayPal accounts for our India users.

In accordance with regulatory instructions, there will be a change in our withdrawal functionality in India starting on August 1, 2010. At present, you can request for either an electronic or cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account. From July 29, 2010 onwards, you will only be able to request for a cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account.

We sincerely apologize in advance for any inconvenience caused from this change and we are working hard to restore the electronic withdrawal service. In the meantime, we are bringing this matter to your attention so that you can plan your future withdrawal activities accordingly.

Our India users can find the cheque withdrawal process here. In order to help you deal with this change and until further notice, we will refund the US$5 cheque withdrawal fee to you for cheque withdrawals made on July 29, 2010 onwards.

If you have any questions, please contact PayPal customer support by logging into your PayPal account and clicking on ‘contact us’ at the bottom of the page.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience caused from this change in our withdrawal functionality. We will provide ongoing updates to you here. We thank you for your attention and patience as we work tirelessly to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.

UPDATE : 31 July 2010

We’ve received good news. You can continue to enjoy electronic withdrawals just as you did before.

While we have received your appreciation for the advanced notice and the refund of the cheque processing fee, we also have heard loud and clear that you highly value the ease-of-use of our electronic withdrawal service. Our customers are our number one priority and we are working tirelessly to improve our service.

Thank you for your patience and in appreciation for your continued support, we will still provide the $5 USD processing fee refund for any cheque withdrawals made from July 29, 2010 until further notice.

For any enquiries, please contact PayPal customer support by logging into your PayPal account and clicking on ‘contact us’ at the bottom of the page.
Thank you,

The PayPal Asia Team