Tag Archives: money

File sharing websites blocked in India

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In a major step taken by Department of Telecom(DOT), a large number of File sharing/hosting websites have been blocked in India.

While it is not clear that why this major step has been taken but rumor has it that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) and other Telecom companies are blocking these sites to prevent Piracy and Porn in India and also Telecom companies are getting huge sum of money from Film producers to block these sites, as they are the ones to suffer most from the Piracy of movies in India.

Some websites that are being blocked are as follows: -

  • Megaupload.com
  • Rapidshare.com
  • Mediafire.com
  • Megavideo.com
  • VideoBB.com
  • Putlocker.com
  • Hotfile.com
  • Filesonic.com
  • Depositfiles.com

And various other file sharing websites.

While some have reported that the said sites are working fine on their network, it may be due to slow propagation of the DNS of their ISP or maybe any other reason.

We will keep you posted on this.

Airtel Money launched in Gurgaon

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India’s first mobile wallet service by a telecom operator- Airtel Money is now launched in the city of Gurgaon.

Announcing the launch of the service, Mr. Atul Bindal, President – Mobile Services, Bharti airtel said:

The mobile phone is fast emerging as a device that enables our lives in more than many ways. Taking this a step further, we are proud to launch airtel money as a first-of-its-kind service from a telecom operator, that transforms the mobile phone into a secure and convenient wallet which customers can use to load money and use it for shopping and making payments. We see a huge potential for mCommerce services in India and are confident that the launch of airtel money will facilitate a paradigm shift in the way consumers transact.

In 2010, Bharti airtel was granted the license to use the Semi Closed Wallet by the Reserve Bank of India. The company has designed a secure and robust backend system to offer India’s first mobile wallet service by a telecom operator – airtel money - as a safe, convenient and user friendly medium for customers to make payments.

To know more about airtel money, customers can dial 12121 (toll free) from their airtel mobile phones and get started. For more information, non-airtel mobile customers can dial 8800012121 or simply visit www.airtelmoney.in

Changes to PayPal User Agreement for Indian users

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Just received this mail from PayPal. Apparently RBI has caused more pain to Indian PayPal users. Here is an excerpt of the mail: -

As part of our commitment to provide a high level of customer service, we would like to give you a 30-day advance notice on changes to our user agreement for India.

With effect from 1 March 2011, you are required to comply with the requirements set out in the notification of the Reserve Bank of India governing the processing and settlement of export-related receipts facilitated by online payment gateways (“RBI Guidelines”).

In order to comply with the RBI Guidelines, our user agreement in India will be amended for the following services 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
  2. Export-related payments for goods and services into your PayPal account may not exceed US$500 per transaction.

We seek your understanding as we continue to employ our best efforts to comply with the RBI Guidelines in a timely manner.

We regret any inconvenience caused to you and hope the advance notice will enable you to plan your future use of our services accordingly. For further information, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact PayPal customer support by logging into your PayPal account and clicking on ‘contact us’ at the bottom of the page. We sincerely thank you for your patience and continued support.

Sincerely,

The PayPal Team

So, what it means is that the PayPal users from India are plain screwed, in simplest words. Some effects of these new regulations:

  • You cannot receive funds more than $500 in a single transaction.
  • You cannot keep money as PayPal balance in your PayPal account. You must transfer any money received, to your bank account within 7 days.
  • If you accept PayPal as a payment gateway for your online business, then your customers have to link a Credit Card to their PayPal account to send you funds.
  • You cannot pay for domains, hostings or any other goods or services from your PayPal balance. You must link a Credit Card to do so.

About time to search for a PayPal alternative.

Source: PayPal India Notification