RBI eases curbs on payment gateways

The central bank decided to allow all payment gateways like PayPal and other such online payment gateway service providers to substantially increase their export-related transaction value limits.
The Indian merchants that use PayPal will now be able to receive up to $10,000 per transaction as compared to the previous $3,000. As per PayPal, in order to receive export related payments merchants must confirm their email address, and add a Permanent Account Number (PAN), purpose code and local bank account to their account.

Why there were strict regulations on payment gateways by RBI?

As per RBI, initially a strict regulation was made as several service providers had allowed exporters to retain the export proceeds abroad without repatriation resulting in violation of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2013