PayPal will shut down domestic payments business in India
What's the story
PayPal will be shutting down its domestic payment services from April 1. The move will not affect international transactions, as small and large Indian businesses can continue to receive/send money from/to their international contacts.
The company is winding down its domestic offerings, which will affect all domestic payment services linked to PayPal. This involves domestic e-commerce platforms incorporating PayPal in their payment repertoire.
Domestic only
Move will not affect international remittances and payments
The move comes as a mystery since PayPal has centers in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai, which collectively make it the company's most substantial investments outside the US. The payment gateway hasn't officially revealed the reason for the decision.
IANS reports that PayPal will continue to make product development investments in the country despite this decision. However, the focus will be on international transactions.
Quote
PayPal India issues official statement
"From April 1, 2021, we will focus all our attention on enabling more international sales for Indian businesses, and shift focus away from our domestic products in India. This means we will no longer offer domestic payment services within India from April 1."
Minor inconvenience
Swiggy, BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip customers affected by shutdown of domestic transactions
PayPal's domestic payment culling comes after major collaborations with Indian entities such as Swiggy, BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip, and others.
The company was responsible for facilitating payments to Indian merchants to the tune of $1.4 billion from international customers. These figures were spread across 360,000 strong Indian business entities.
The company's statement expressed its focus on connecting Indian businesses to 350 million PayPal consumers worldwide.
Unscathed
PayPal posts strong revenue growth despite the 2019 refund controversy
The domestic shutdown comes in the wake of PayPal reporting a strong growth in Q4 2020, while recording a revenue of $6.12 billion. Further, its total volume of payments stand at $277 billion, growing at 39 percent.
PayPal also added 16 million new active accounts in the same quarter, which is surprising given the recent controversy surrounding its refund policy.