Paypal Restrictions to Indian Users and Useful Alternatives/Answers

PayPal has changed its operation rules in India recently due to RBI guidelines. I was really wondering what next, I just did not think about it for a week. Today I have called the Paypal office and received some good news for all the Indian users.
Let us see the restrictions made by Paypal now,

“We have received a notification from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) outlining the new requirements for governing the processing and settlement of export-related receipts facilitated by online payment gateways. In order to comply with the RBI guidelines, our user agreement in India will be amended for the following services with effect from 1 March 2011 as follows:

1.Any balance in and all future payments into your PayPal account may not be used to buy goods or services and must be transferred to your bank account in India within 7 days from the receipt of confirmation from the buyer in respect of the goods or services; and"

Here you have two options either you can withdraw the money directly to your bank account with a usual charge of INR 50 for transactions below INR 7000 (It may change from March 1st 2011, not confirmed as of now) or request a cheque for free.

Suppose if you fail to withdraw the money, it will be wired to your preferred bank account after 7 days automatically.

If you want to buy or purchase a service you can still use Paypal but the transactions will be made from your bank account or credit card with no service charge and Paypal exchange rates are still applicable.

"2. Export-related payments for goods and services into your PayPal account may not exceed US$500 per transaction.”

To-date the only option is to receive/send your payment through multiple transactions if it exceeds US$500.

I believe still the small freelancers have some live left with Paypal before it shuts it doors completely. Lets us see what the other options are if they can give us in place of these restrictions.

Disclaimer: This article has been written after a call with the Paypal customer service executive. Please double check with them before make any decisions.