Paypal India Mandates Indian Accounts to Add Purpose Code, PAN Number

Paypal is bullish about Indian market despite the RBI guidelines and the company is now asking all its users to add a purpose code, PAN, and bank account in India to their PayPal account, in order to enable smooth payments.

For a lot of freelancers/SMEs, Paypal is almost dead in India, but lack of a good alternative still makes it a viable play for most of freelancers.

Here is the latest email Paypal Asia team has sent to Indian accounts:

“As part of our ongoing effort to comply with the requirements set out in the notification of the Reserve Bank of India “RBI Guidelines” that apply to all online payment gateways, all PayPal users in India will be required to add the following to their PayPal account in order to continue to receive export-related payments and withdraw money:

• A purpose code related to the majority of commercial activities for export-related payments
• A PAN or Permanent Account Number
• A bank account in India (if not previously added)

To add a purpose code, PAN and bank account:

• Log into your PayPal account at www.paypal.com/in
• You’ll find prompts on the top of your “My Account” page asking you to “Add” your PAN, purpose code and bank account
• Click on the “Add” links and follow the instructions.

Additionally, PayPal users in India are required to provide a current and accurate postal address on their PayPal account. To ensure that your address is up-to-date:
- Log in to your PayPal account at www.paypal.com/in
- Click on “Profile” and select “Add/Edit Street Address”. “

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Even after all this, Paypal will not restructure itself as a bank, which is what RBI expects it to [Read : Paypal RBI Issue–Paypal Violated FEMA Act].

Recommended Read: Top Alternatives Of Paypal For Indian Entrepreneurs | How To Choose Your Payment Gateway [R.I.P. Paypal]

Also see: Analyze Your Paypal Transactions With Putler.

PS: These are not new regulations (i.e. addition of PAN number etc), but we are sharing the latest update from Paypal India team, in order to keep our readers updated with latest from Paypal India.

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Best of the Week–ccavenue Hacked, Nokia’s 500 Million Phones in India

Best of the Week

• Payment Gateway CCAvenue Hacked [Updated/Open Questions]
• Report: State of Internet Connectivity in India [Decline in Average Connection Speed]
• 25% Failure Rate For IRCTC Transactions [March 2011 Report]
• Mobile Banking: Transaction Limit For Mobile Wallet Card Increased to INR 50K
• Available: $100,000 Worth of Funding For Indian Startups in Mobile and Cloud Computing Space
• Micromax Bling 2 Details Unveiled – Runs on Froyo

Startups/Entrepreneurship

• Insights on the Youth Consumer and Mobile Advertising in India
• Deal Aggregator, dealmandi Hits Your Mobile With An Android App
• What Pasta can teach Entrepreneurs [Be your own Chef]
• Startups: 16 Super Practical Tips To Crack Tradeshows
• Analyze Your Paypal Transactions With Putler
• Startups: Good Looks Are More Than Just Eye Candy [Is Usability Overhyped?]
• Can I Get The Menu Please? – Of Product Communication And Lost Customers
• Big Fish, Small Fish : Daily Deal Startups Deserve A Pat In the Back For Creating A Category
• Matrix Partners India Closes $300 Million Fund II

Latest from Internet/Mobile Industry

• 4Cs of mobile marketing: currency (value), conversation, community and content [Mobile Insights]
• Nokia Will Soon Sell Its 500 Millionth Phone in India, up for bidding [Current Price More Than Rs. 2L]
• And Now, You Can Also Kill Osama [Internet Game]!
• Report on Mobile app Stores: Number of Paid Apps on Android is 1/3rd of iPhone App Store
• Fear of Location Based Services & Tracking [Mobile User Privacy]
• Samsung Apps gets Operator Billing in India
• And Now, Times Internet Also Does the Obvious – Launches A Deal Site

Gadgets

• Micromax Bling 2 Details Unveiled – Runs on Froyo
• Micromax Launches 3G Wireless MiFi Router Priced at Rs. 4999
• Acer Launches Honeycomb and Windows 7 Powered Tablets in India
• Hands on with the iPad 2: Yes its here! [Review]
• Olive Mobile Launches Fluid V-W1 Android Phone for Rs. 10,000
• Sony Announces S1 and S2 Tablets
• Intel porting Android Honeycomb to x86 processors

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Project Nimbus Is The Data Marketplace

App developers and innovators face major difficulties when accessing data they can use in their phone apps or devices. They would have to figure out, for instance, how to access weather forecast data from the National Environmental Agency, or movie timings from the various cinemas. This tedious process is costly and complicated, detracting innovators from their creative process.

This is where Project Nimbus comes in. They aim to create a one stop shop where content creators can easily share their information in a marketplace, and where developers can access different kinds of data they can use in their apps or devices.

Two years ago, we first profiled Project Nimbus when it just began. Today, there are more datasets and projects that have used these datasets. An example of an app made with the help of Project Nimbus is SG pedia, which provides information on places of interest in Singapore:

For a short 39s video introduction to Project Nimbus:

Content creators can rely on the technical expertise provided by Project Nimbus at no upfront cost, while innovators too can sample some of the datasets free of charge.

This initiative is started by a group of volunteer technology professionals with funding from corporate and government sponsors.

So far, their list of datasets has incorporated a wide variety of sources. Here’s a sampling: Restaurant information from HungryGoWhere, road conditions from the Land Transport Authority, catalogue information from the National Library Board, and places of interest from the Singapore Tourism Board.

Innovators looking for a dataset that is not featured on Project Nimbus can even vote for the information that they would like too see featured. The volunteers would then act on their behalf and request for it from the relevant organisations every few weeks.

Developers who want to get involved can register on the website. They can then review the datasets that are available, and access the code snippets and tutorials. The datasets are based on the Open Data Protocol, and are available for use in Java, .NET, PHP and Ruby.

For a video introduction as to how Project Nimbus works:

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LinkedIn Japan To Be Launched By Joi Of Neoteny Labs

Not only is Joichi “Joi” Ito extremely busy with Neoteny Labs and with his upcoming new appointment at MIT Media Lab, he just announced that he’ll be helping LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman set up LinkedIn in Japan.

An excerpt from Joi’s blog post:

“As LinkedIn begins its global expansion, Japan is an important priority and recently I’ve been advising LinkedIn on a more formal basis.

Japan REALLY needs LinkedIn right now. LinkedIn is NOT a social network; it is a professional network. It is a network that allows people to build their professional identity, share business expertise and information, and advance your professional knowledge about subjects important to you. As privacy issues exceedingly become a concern, it’s very important to keep your casual, gaming and social networks separated from your professional network. I think LinkedIn will be an essential tool for professionals in Japan as it is in the rest of the world.

So, this is my last “real job” before I transition over completely to the Media Lab role: helping to launch LinkedIn in Japan.“

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Dianping: Mixing the Secret Sauce of Reviews, LBS and Group-buying

Dianping for a long time has been very focused on becoming the “best local city life guide to primarily white collar workers in China” says Michael Jiang, VP of Product and Operations of Dianping.

For merchants or the local businesses that list on Dianping, “for the last 8 years, we have been trying to give comprehensive targeted marketing solutions.” If you are a small new business starting out, getting momentum of repeat customers is always difficult. For many local Chinese businesses that are not marketing savvy but are very good at what they do, sites like Dianping work very well to market to millions of consumers.

Reviews, LBS check-in’s, group-buying – how it adds up well for Dianping

With the proliferation of mobile internet services, reviews, check-ins and group-buying are increasingly integrated to many apps. Soon it will become difficult to differentiate them all. But according to Michael, “it all adds up perfectly into our existing model.”

3 different needs from Merchants

1. Fill in capacity: “If you are a merchant, the most important thing is to get customers. If your store is new, or your business is doing alright but has a lot more capacity you need a large amount of traffic in a short time and group-buying fills in this capacity does this.” The quick-win to merchants is a low cost of acquisition per user with a high volume of users in a short time.”

2. Build loyal customers: “You can’t rely on the group-buying model as your primary marketing solution because it hurts your margins. So we offer paid search ranking (so users can see your listing first), we offer coupons of 10% discount which is a very healthy marketing solution.” Reviews and feedback is another way for users to trust the store and see what other people experienced.

3. Connect with customers: “LBS (location based service) is great way to interact with users and improve the relationship. In Shanghai, we did a successful campaign with Dairy Queen where if you check-in you can get a discount. Another thing we did to gain repeat purchases was to create a discount membership system through verified check-in.”

“Dianping’s advantage is that we can provide a total online marketing solution to the local merchants and there is nobody else who can offer the same. We have a huge user base, independent user review platform and a stable advertising method through coupons or group-buying. If there is someone else who only does group-buying, why would you use them? Dianping also has a very strong brand and expertise to manage campaigns.”

Ensuring integrity of Reviews

“In China, in some areas and categories we have seen some serious issues with credibility. There are merchants that try to short-cut or pay for good reviews or they want us to delete bad reviews, but they are not the majority. The fundamental principle of Dianping is that we are an independent review platform. We do have a strong team that specializes in ensuring the integrity of information but we can’t guarantee that we will catch all fake reviews.”

Dianping is open about buying an LBS

“We are very open about growing our team and if the people are right and fit the team, M&A could happen if the synergy is there. We need to keep growing our team from all aspects from R&D, Product, Marketing and Sales.”, says Michael.

Dianping has today 30 million unique visitors per month and 6 million mobile users. More than 50% of the mobile users are active and tend to view and review more. Last quarter, 50% of coupons were redeemed from mobile and it is expected that mobile page views will surpass web views in the near future.

There is no doubt that competition is heating up at the intersection between reviews, group-buying, LBS check-in sites. But with Dianping’s large ready inventory of merchants and users, they are a very strong contender to be the winner.

Related posts:

1. Facebook Pushes into Group Buying Market
2. Sina Launched Group-Buying Aggregator Service, With Weibo Integrated
3. My feeling about Group buying in China

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Ad Trading Summit Singapore – 15 Jun

ATS Singapore is the first dedicated Asian-Pacific event for programmatic buying. The event is aimed at agencies, advertisers, ad traders, ad nets, ad exchanges, data providers, ad-tech vendors and publishers.

The half-day event will look to discuss and debate the changing face of the APAC display advertising market, the increasing influence of automated trading platforms and the rise of the data economy. It will also explain the key terminology, like ad exchanges, DSPs, RTB, SSPs – and the roles they play in the ad exchange eco-system.

Confirmed Speakers For The Day

» Matthias Kunze, Director of Publisher Monetization, JAPAC, Google
» Stuart Spiteri, Head of Media Platforms, JAPAC, Google
» Julian Tol, CEO, Brandscreen
» Kevin Tan, CEO, Tectonic Digital Solutions
» Phil Cowlishaw, Performance Media Director, IKON
» Jordan Khoo, Regional Director, APAC, MediaMind

Who should be attending this event?

» Agencies
» Advertisers
» Ad Traders
» Ad Networks
» Ad Exchanges
» Ad-Tech Vendors
» Publishers
» Data Providers

What will be discussed?

» The key terminology explained. What is an ad exchange? What does a Demand Side Platform do? What is Real Time Bidding?
» Who benefits from this new automated way of buying and selling display advertising? The advertiser? The agency? The publisher?
» The future growth of the exchange marketplace in the APAC region
» How Demand Side Platforms, publisher yield optimisers, exchanges and data providers are changing the way the industry buys and sells display advertising
» The opportunities for both publishers and advertisers
» The rise of Real Time Bidding and audience targeting across exchange supply
» The value of re-targeting – and how it can impact conversions
» How advertisers can use third party data to boost campaign performance – and how publishers can package and sell their own data
» Advertiser, agency, ad network and publisher strategies around automated display buying

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Event Details

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When: Wednesday 15th June 2011
Time: 1.30pm-5pm
Where: M Hotel Singapore, 81 Anson Road, Singapore 079908
Fees: SGD 400

Register here.

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Talk: Business Opportunities and Market Access for Indonesia – 26 May

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, with over 238 million people and a population growth still high at 1.9 percent, comprises of 17,508 islands and thirty three provinces. Indonesia has a mixed economy in which both the private sector and government play significant roles, with more than 160 state-owned enterprises. The country is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and is one of the emerging market economies of the world. With estimated nominal gross domestic product, as of 2010 was US$706.73 billion; with estimated nominal per capita GDP was US$3,015. Since 2010, the service sector account for the fastest growth.

Come 26th of May, iAxil and Battle Ventures will hold a talk on Business Opportunities and Market Access for Indonesia.

More on Indonesia:

The economy of Indonesia was severely affected by the Asian financial and economic crisis in 1997. It has recovered since 2004 and undergone another period of rapid economic growth, largely due to domestic consumption as the driver of economic growth. Indonesia’s main export markets are Japan, Singapore, the United States, and China. The major suppliers of imports to Indonesia are Singapore, China, and Japan, with Singapore leading at 25%.

Being a large nation, Indonesia, offers business opportunities of various kinds and sizes. Technology development activities are on an increase but with a huge and diverse market to address, a lot more is needed. As a society, Indonesians are entrepreneurial, in their own rights, and the landscape offers them a wide ranging business opportunities. Already there are start up activities in technology, however the industry is still at its infancy. In fact, as a country, Indonesia would need to close the gap between the haves and the have nots, so that, the country is stable. This would have to be accomplished through using technologies, and with prices and capabilities of technology based devices and systems coming down in price, the traditional means in fact cost more to operate. An understanding of the landscape and the adaption of applications are needed to be successful in addressing the market there. The talk will touch of the potentials, requirements, issues, and elements for venturing in Indonesia to be fruitful.

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Why should you attend?

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Mr. Andy Zain and Dr. Tan Chong Hee, veterans in the investment and technology developments in the industry, will address the opportunities and threats in the Indonesian Market, with special focus on:

1. Why is Indonesia a promising market?
2. Which sectors are hot and which ones are not?
3. How does a Singapore-based company like yours break through the cultural barriers and make full use of the Indonesia opportunity?
4. Technology developments and investment landscape in Indonesia

Doing business in Indonesia is very different from anywhere else in the world, and equally rewarding. The speakers will guide the entrepreneurs in understanding the dynamics of accessing the Indonesian market, forging partnerships, and navigating the government organizations, which are absolutely critical for your success in Indonesia.

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Speakers

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Mr. Andy Zain , Managing Partner, VentureX

Andy Zain is regarded as one of the mobile industry pioneers. Since 1999, he had involved in numerous ‘industry first’ initiatives, such as the first ringtone service, the first mobile portal, first mobile banking and m-commerce service in the region. Founder of Elasitas, a leading content aggregator in Indonesia and solution provider with deployments across telcos in Asia Pacific. Andy is currently the Managing Partner of VentureX, a private equity boutique focusing in telecommunication, media and technology sector in South East Asia and overseeing operation of several mobile services in Indonesia. Actively involved in the Indonesia Chambers of Commerce and Trade as Vice Chairman in Content & Application Committee (ICT), and a founding member of IMOCA (Indonesia Mobile and Online Content Association). Andy also runs the local chapter of MobileMonday in Indonesia, part of the global networking forum for mobile professionals

Dr. Tan Chong Hee, Advisor, Tallwood Venture Capital and GGV Capital

Dr. Tan is an advisor to both the US-based Tallwood Venture Capital and US-China focused Granite Global Ventures Capital in technology-related investments and strategic alliances. In addition, Dr. Tan also works with iAxil and advises its portfolio companies, as well as half a dozen technology companies. Prior to above, Dr. Tan was Director/Head of Investments and Strategic Relations at Chartered (now Global Foundries), where he established a portfolio of technology companies to facilitate Chartered’s foray into the next wave of semiconductor technologies and applications. The portfolio grew about 200% over a two year period, with an exit, the acquisition of Ciclon Devices by Texas Instruments. Preceding his stint in Chartered, Dr. Tan was Vice President of Pacific Venture Partners, where he headed the Singapore office and led some of the investments in both Greater China and Singapore; some of the successful exits included Spreadtrum (NASDAQ), CSMC (IPO, HKSE), and Virtual Silicon (acq. by Mosaid). Before joining Pacific, Dr. Tan was on the management team and headed the Business Development, IP and Quality Department of the Institute of Microelectronics (Singapore), where he played the lead role in collaborations between the national research laboratory and the industry in the aspect of R&D. Formerly, Dr. Tan was with VLSI and System Laboratory, University of New South Wales where he was responsible for the Australia-ASEAN Economic Program on Microelectronics, the Australasia Multi-Project Chip Program, and VLSI Design Platforms and the Symbolic VLSI Design Toolset. Dr. Tan received his B.E.(Electronics and Comms), M.Sc.(CompSc), and Ph.D. (CompEng), all from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

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Event Details

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When: Thursday 26th May 2011
Time: 1:30pm – 4pm, registration starts at 1:30pm, light refreshments and networking from 4pm
Where: No. 87 Science Park Drive, Science Hub, Singapore Science Park 1, Seminar Room: Buona Vista and Portsdown

Admission is free. Please sign up at events@iAxil.net.

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Image Credit: Ahron de Leeuw

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Tuita, Shanda’s Tumblr and Online Service Aggregator

Thanks to fast growing microblog service, the Tumblr-like service seems taking off in China too. Kuantu is one of the startups we’ve covered; Diandian, is another promising one founded by ex-CEO of Shanda’s GameABC and invested by Innovation Works. I just tested out a Shanda’s new service, named Tuita which is still in private test. Well, it turns out that it’s another Tumblr which was what I got at the first look.

Tuita is indeed like Tumblr. On Tuita, you can share short text, post, images, video and files with your followers. Every user can set up a personal mini site with custom template like mine. The content published on Tuita can be synced with users’ Sina or QQ’s weibo service. From product point of view, Tuita is nice designed; but function-wise compared with Tumblr, it is kind of boring…

However, it’s actually a smart move for Shanda. Shanda is using Tumblr’s model to aggregate its online services:

• Music – powered by Xiaomi invested by Shanda;
• File – powered by Shanda Note, the cloud storage and file sharing service launched in October 2010;
• Video – powered by Ku6, the online site listed in NASDAQ.

It’s not Shanda’s first try to aggregate its online service. Tangguo which was launched a few months ago is still beta. User can also share text, images and video on Tangguo, but it also runs an app store which contains Shanda‘s over 50 online casual games. Tuita is a much lighter service, but easier to go viral.

Related posts:

1. KuanTu, The Chinese Tumblr
2. Sina Launched Group-Buying Aggregator Service, With Weibo Integrated
3. Tencent Bought 30% Share of 17u.com, Enters Online Travel Service Market

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