Pathik Shah

Every few months, Paypal decides that it wants to screw Indian freelancers, fucks them in the arse and then dashes off a politely worded email to them saying that they “regret any inconvenience caused”.

This time, it’s this:

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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.
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Most of the times, including today, they just blame it on the RBI and its guidelines. I don’t know whose fault this is, but now Indians can’t store money in their Paypal accounts and also cannot receive more than $500 per transaction. Indians also cannot buy anything with the money in their Paypal accounts now.

All this is very irritating for Indian freelancers who rely on their online income for a living. I can’t understand the point of having a $500 limit on payments. RBI should atleast increase the limit.

Google, take note here, stop chasing after social, and make a robust an viable alternative to Paypal. Google Checkout, in its current state, really sucks. So does Paypal, but there is no other alternative. Having some good competition in online payments would be great.

[/rant]

How to Buy Google Nexus S in India

The Google Nexus S by Samsung is officially the best Android phone yet. It is the only phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and sports some killer hardware. You can check out the Google Nexus S Review here.

It hasn’t officially been launched in India but you can get the Nexus S in India by having a friend in the US ship it to you.

Update: The Google Nexus S is up on Infibeam for pre-order at Rs. 24000

You can also buy the Google Nexus S on eBay India for just Rs. 32999. It is unofficial, obviously, so you won’t have any warranty from Google.

The seller currently has a 97.4% feedback on eBay and seems legit.

Buy Google Nexus in India – 1

Buy Google Nexus in India – 2

Check out these two eBay links. The price seems reasonable. It is available for around Rs. 25000 ($529) in the US.

Buy HTC Desire HD in India

The HTC Desire HD is one of the best Android smartphones in existence. Now you can buy it online in India. It is available at Flipkart for Rs. 27499. It should start shipping by the first week of January 2011. Click on the link below to know more details.

HTC Desire HD – Flipkart

You could also buy it at Amazon and get your HTC Desire HD shipped to India.

HTC Desire HD – Amazon

HTC Desire HD Specifications

The HTC Desire HD has a 4.3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display and comes with an 8 MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. It is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and has 768 MB RAM. It runs Android 2.2 Froyo and will get an upgrade to Android 2.3 soon.

How to Apply for IPOs Using ASBA in India

Applying for IPOs using ASBA / Subscribing to IPOs using ASBA

What is ASBA?

ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) is a new payment method using which you can apply for IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). It is available only for retail investors and is supported only by certain banks. Using ASBA, you can apply or subscribe to any IPO easily without paying any money upfront.

Which Banks offer ASBA?

Only Banks certified by SEBI, Self Certified Syndicate Banks (SCSBs), can offer the ASBA facility to their customers. There are now 53 such banks which offer this facility in India.

List of Banks offering ASBA in India

How does ASBA work?

ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) allows you to apply for IPOs without paying any money upfront. Your money is just blocked by the bank until the IPO book building process is over and the share allotment is done (you cannot withdraw it until then). After that, the money is deducted from your account based on how many shares have been allotted to you. The remaining amount is unblocked immediately.

This is much better than the traditional way of applying for IPOs. You don’t need to send a cheque for applying to the IPO or wait for a refund when the allotment is over. You also keep receiving interest on the blocked amount under ASBA.

How to use ASBA for Applying to IPOs

1. If your bank is in the list of banks supporting ASBA (SCSBs), you just need to go to your bank’s website and register your CDSL or NSDL demat account under the ASBA facility by entering your account details.

2. You can then view a list of open IPOs and FPOs and submit your bids for it using ASBA. If your bids are valid, the bank will give you an acknowledgement number and your application is complete.

3. When the book building process is over, the shares allotted to you will be deposited to your demat account and the balance amount will be unblocked in your bank account. Retail investors now receive a 5% discount to the final listing price.

More details about ASBA on BSE and NSE

Buy the Apple iPad in India, Officially

India is probably not on Apple’s list of favorite countries, and it seemed like it would rather start shipping the iPad to some other planet before it got around to selling it officially in India.

But now, it seems that the Apple iPad is officially available in India. As of now, Apple resellers are selling it only in bulk to corporates, but it should be available in retail soon.

Apple iPad India Pricing?

16 GB iPad (Wi-Fi Only) – Rs 33,000
64 GB iPad (Wi-Fi + 3G) – Rs 54,000

This is what the pricing seems to be. The other models will be priced in this range. With such a high price tag, the Samsung Galaxy Tab seems to be a better option at Rs 36,000.

via ET