Delhi HC seeks comments from Reserve Bank, ED on PIL against PayPal

The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Paypal Payments while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL)  on the company’s ‘illegal’ status in India.

The PIL alleged that Paypal Payments was acting in violation of the Payment and Settlements Systems Act, and was not an RBI authorised payment system operator (PSO).

The PIL, filed by economist Abhijit Mishra, also alleged that the company that has a presence in India since 2017 was “operating as a foreign exchange dealer in contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)” and sought action against the company under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Queries sent to PayPal did not elicit a response till the time of publishing the article.

RBI, ED and PayPal are required to submit their response ahead of the next date of hearing on September 18.

PayPal has been targeting small and medium businesses as well as freelancers based out of India for payments from cross-border clients. The US-headquartered company is listed on NASDAQ,  and has seen a spate of senior executive departures in recent times.