New Delhi: In a bizarre and outrageous move, the largest online payment and money-transfer service in the world, PayPal has stopped all personal payments to and from India, affecting the lives of millions of Indians, who always relied on its service to get money from abroad.

Without giving any reasons or notice, PayPal reversed all personal/gift payments to and from Indian accounts, which came as a shock and surprise to all. The company did not even bother to explain why this happening.

A large number of people, especially the software developers, coders, freelance writers, journalists and other service providers are worst affected. In some cases, PayPal is robbing people off some money, saying it's simply reconversion.

According to Rajesh, a freelance writer, based in New Delhi, he received some funds online and immediately asked for a withdrawal of $1,100 (Rs 49,206) from PayPal to his bank account.

While the money transfer was still pending, PayPal reversed it and sent the money back to the original sender. During the re-conversion, the amount Rs 49,206 became $1,022 - a loss of $78, which is not a meager amount for anybody!

When Rajesh contacted PayPal, saying if $1,100 becomes Rs 49,206 during conversion, how it becomes $1,022 during re-conversion in less than 24 hours. PayPal offered an explanation, saying that is the normal procedure. Absurd or not?

Many people having personal and business accounts are witnessing the same problem. While the 'Goods' and 'Services' are said to be working, some people complained that even those payments are being reversed. Some business accounts are also reportedly affected.

People are bearing huge losses due to this glitch. Some of them are going to file lawsuits against the company and some are planning to seek further information from the government under RTI, as some reports said that it could be somewhat related to a problem between RBI and PayPal. However, there is no confirmation yet.

PayPal is an online payment and money-transfer service that allows you to send money via email, phone, text message or Skype. This is the easiest and best possible method to send and receive money across the globe. It also does not come under the RBI's purview, although transfer of money to your bank accounts will be monitored.

There is a huge outrage in India over the issue and PayPal needs to step in to restore confidence among its trusted customers. As a goodwill gesture, PayPal should compensate the users for their losses incurred during the reversal and reconversion. If it does not, it would be seen as a company with evil intention.

Here's the Email sent by PayPal to the account holders after a payment reversal:

“Your payment of xxx has been sent back to the sender of the payment. We reversed this payment because we have stopped allowing personal payments to be sent to or from India.

 “If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her resend the payment as follows: (a) click the Send Money tab, (b) select “Goods,” and (c) provide a shipping address.

“If this payment was a personal payment such as a gift, then we have requested that the sender find another payment method until we restore personal payments to and from India. We are trying to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for any inconvenience.”