PayPal could block India for 'months'

eBay-owned PayPal has suspended parts of its service in India. While some functions will be operational within days, others could take months.

SAN FRANCISCO - Online payments service PayPal says its suspension of certain transactions in India could last months.

In a post on PayPal's blog, spokesman Anuj Nayar wrote that the company will keep blocking personal payments to and from India as it works out questions that Indian regulators have posed.

The payments were initially suspended Jan. 28, after regulators questioned whether PayPal payments should be regulated like wire transfers of cash.

However, local bank withdrawals, which had also been suspended, should be available within a few days, Nayar said.

The size of PayPal's India business is not publicly disclosed, but it appears to be relatively small.

In 2008, $4 billion of PayPal's $60 billion in transactions came from the region it defines as Asia, and the vast majority was from Australia, PayPal's fourth-largest market.

PayPal is part of eBay.

- AP