Instead of just wait and watch on paypal situation, i think time has come for Indian freelancers come together for a cause. We shouldnt fool ourselves in believing that it is just Wipro, HCL, TCS and Infosys of the world that are doing good to our economy. what about us? We are no puppets, but a the silent army of freelance coders, designers, website owners and SEO experts contributing significantly to Indian economy and well being of many indian families. Just like NASSCOM for software companies, we need to form a association or something for freelancers working online. 1. Who is to be responsible RBI or PayPal? i personally think, regulation is good, but too much regulation will kill the web and service industry. At present, we are a big exporter of services and web-based products to the world, but once the payments stops coming in, we will stop exporting services to the world, and we will remain nothing but mere importer. 2. What can we do? We need to ask the help from media or do something to take this issue at highest level. If there were any association for freelancers, paypal wouldnt be fighting alone with the govt. Thanks to raven, whose blog post on paypal issue really opened my eyes.
Well we're not even getting tax benefits that infosys and others enjoy, we've to pay our taxes as per any other indian. Whats the benefit of exporting of services then??
Olddocks has raise a Good point regarding association. I just don't know how we take the First Step. Let's make some positive move... Let's start with Grouping in un-official and then we can get it registered. Any Body In DELHI /NCR Interested ,please PM me...
freelancers are still a very small group. I doubt freelancers, on their own, can do much. wheels of bureaucracy don't move so easily. maybe we should approach NASSCOM and let it take up the issue with the government.
NASSCOM is another govt. thing so they work like Govt. as well also not only freelancers but small companies also uses paypal a lot.
PayPal is being used by companies making crores/year as well. So, its not just about freelancers. Everyone who is using PayPal should come forward and protest. I think, a big road strike and rail strike and air strike in main cities will open the eyes of Govt and RBI.
Indian Freelancers Association (IFA) would be a good name. It should be either independent or a body of NASSCOM. Having powers is the most important thing. In that way, we might get tax benefits. i have to disagree sachin! there are millions of freelancers, spread throughout India as individuals, companies, non-profit etc, who regularly use paypal. Combined all of them, would be as big as workforce of IT companies. Today may be a small number, when you think after 5 yrs and the explosive growth of internet, the numbers would rise exponentially.
the number is too small and revenues too insignificant for influencing RBI. if you think RBI cares more about freelancers and small companies than it does about foreign currency transactions and money laundering, you are making a mistake. even powerful groups like the banking industry and mutual funds have a tough time trying to get their point through to the RBI. be practical. RBI has to think about the economy as a whole. whatever RBI has done isn't wrong. sooner or later, all payment processors in India are going to be regulated. if Paypal wants to exist in India, it has to follow what RBI says and not the other way round. Paypal is owned by ebay. I am sure ebay has more influence in the North Block than freelancers and small IT companies. If a solution is possible, ebay will find it.
Completely agree with you, If association exists then it would benefit all freelancers in India. Its not about Paypal or any other processor, its about coming together and being united. Otherwise one way or other you are alone.
Well that's great idea and people should think on bigger stage where big bloggers and online business owners meet and make an Association, however I differ on blaming on RBI as they provided deadline to submit documents to all financial institute and if PayPal didn't provide it then it should PayPal's fault from my eye.