PayPal to cease domestic financial transactions in India

• US-based online payments website PayPal is halting domestic financial services in India
• The move means bowing out of a vast market, although buoyed by recent coronavirus restrictions
• The firm did not say why it was ending its online payments service, available on a number of popular Indian apps

NEW DELHI: US-based online payments website PayPal on Friday said it is halting domestic financial services in India.

The move means bowing out of a vast market, although buoyed by recent coronavirus restrictions.

Multinational giants, including WhatsApp, Google and Alibaba, have for months been locked in a tense battle over the fast-growing digital payments market in the nation of 1.3 billion, expected to be worth $500 billion by 2025.

But PayPal on Friday said it would instead focus on developing more international sales for Indian businesses from April.

"This means we will no longer offer domestic payment services within India from 1 April," the California-based company added in a statement.

The firm did not say why it was ending its online payments service, available on a number of popular Indian apps.

PayPal said it processed $1.4 billion worth of international sales for over 360,000 merchants in India last year.