PayPal to Shut Down Domestic Payments Business in India From April 1,2021

California-based PayPal will wind down its domestic payments business in India starting April 1, as the company announced on Friday. The firm will instead concentrate on its cross-border payments business, meaning global customers will still be able to pay Indian merchants via the service.

PayPal holding Inc. entered the Indian market, offering its domestic operations in India in 2017 November, which provided payment options for domestic transactions for both customers and merchants.

However, as per the reports, the firm said: "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".

As indicated, they will no longer offer domestic payment services within India starting April 1. PayPal is a payments option on numerous Indian online apps such as fashion shopping, travel, food and ticket service like MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow, Swiggy and more.

The firm hopes that the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies.

Last October, the company declared that it would let customers deal with Bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet and shop with cryptocurrencies at the 26 million merchants on its network. This new service will allow users access to cryptocurrencies, which could benefit Bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods making PayPal one of the largest US companies.

"We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role," President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.

PayPal plans to extend the service to its peer-to-peer payment app Venmo and other nations in the first half of 2021. The payments service with cryptocurrencies will be available from early next year, the company stated.

Other mainstream fintech companies do allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. However, PayPal's launch is noteworthy, given its size.