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

PayPal will wind down its domestic payments business in India from April 1, the company said in a statement on Friday.

San Jose, California-based PayPal will instead focus on its cross-border payments business, which means global customers will still be able to pay Indian merchants using the service.

"From 1 April 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," the company said.

"This means we will no longer offer domestic payment services within India from 1 April."

PayPal was a payments options on many Indian online apps such as travel and ticketing service MakeMyTrip, online film booking app BookMyShow, and food delivery app Swiggy.

In October last year, PayPal said that it will allow customers to hold Bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet and shop using cryptocurrencies at the 26 million merchants on its network.

The new service makes PayPal one of the largest US companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help Bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.

The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.

"We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role," he said.

US account holders will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal wallets over the coming weeks, the company said. PayPal plans to expand the service to its peer-to-peer payment app Venmo and some other countries in the first half of 2021.

The ability to make payments with cryptocurrencies will be available from early next year, the company said.

Other mainstream fintech companies, such as mobile payments provider Square and stock trading app firm Robinhood Markets, allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but PayPal's launch is noteworthy given its size.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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