The Internet payment gateway says that its services to and from India will remain suspended for a few months due to revised licensing rules

Popular electronic payment gateway PayPal Inc has said that personal payments to and from India will be suspended for at least a few months until it fully resolves the questions from Indian regulators.

In a blog, Anuj Nayar, director for global communications at PayPal, said that it temporarily suspended local bank transfers and personal payments to and from India to respond to enquiries from Indian regulators, specifically questions on whether personal payments constitute remittances into the country.

"We’re working with the regulators and our bank-processing partners in India to get this resolved as quickly as we can. We realise that this is causing considerable inconvenience to our customers and I want to reassure you that this is a top priority for the leadership at PayPal," Mr Nayar said.

Officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), who previously told Moneylife that the central bank had no idea why this was happening and PayPal doesn't come under RBI's purview, were not immediately available for comments after PayPal admitted that there was some issue with Indian regulators.

Talking about the availability of local bank withdrawals in India, Mr Nayar said that customers should be able to transfer their funds to a local bank within the next few days. "In the meantime, we’re going to restore the money into the PayPal accounts of any customers in India who have initiated a recent withdrawal, so they know that the money is safe in their accounts. Customers will also be reimbursed for any withdrawal fee charges," he added.

In case of any PayPal reversal that has left many customers in India with negative balance, Mr Nayar has advised them to contact the senders and have them resend the payment for purchase of goods or services by clicking on the 'Send Money' tab and selecting 'Purchase'. However, in case of a personal payment, he said, "The sender will need to find another payment method until we restore the service.”

"If you can’t recover the funds from the sender, you can bring your PayPal balance current by logging into the PayPal account and clicking the 'Resolve Negative Balance' link on the ‘Account Overview’ page," Mr Nayar said.