I think I shall apologize to my UK users who love cricket that I forgot to tell you about something important. It’s just tomorrow, in next 14 hours, IPL season 3 will start and if you are still wondering how to watch IPL matches, then you landed at right place.

IPL 2010 to be broadcast exclusively on ITV, the oldest commercial TV Network in the UK after Indian Premier League signed the UK broadcast deal recently. ITV will broadcast all 60 matches over 45 days for free all over UK (England, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland) on ITV4 channel. The IPL matches will be simultaneously available on ITV.com and ITV mobile. With UK’s fast broadband connectivity, you shall be able to watch the matches free online as well if your mobile supports internet.

I am so thrilled to find a way to watch IPL sitting on the sofa on my nice 32″ LCD TV set.

This is so weird, that I am using gmail since so many years but never needed to embed an image while composing mail. This is very useful if you would like to insert / embed the images in the email itself at specific places instead of attaching those images. When I needed it today, I was not sure how so did a bit of research in my Gmail settings and found out the trick. So this how you can do it.

1.Check if you have ‘Rich formatting’ enabled.

2. If you already have it enabled, it will show all buttons except the one for inserting images.

3. Go to Gmail settings and then click on ‘Labs’

4. In Labs, there are various features waiting for you to try, search for ‘image’ or find out ‘Inserting images’ and enable the option and save it (save button is at the bottom of the page).

5. Come back to ‘Compose mail’ and look at the html formatting bar, it shall look like the one below allowing you to insert the images.

Paypal will be allowing the withdrawals to Indian local banks after the announcement today. Currently, it’s allowed to business customers who are exporting goods and services globally (provided they have export code, which we will talk about shortly) but currently these is no decision for individuals unless they decide to start the business and get the import export code (IEC) from Government of India.

How to get Import Export Code for Paypal payments?

Importer Exporter Code  (IEC Code) is mandatory for any person or entity who wants to make any Import or Export. IEC is unique 10 digit code issued by Director General of Foreign Trade , Ministry of Commerce, Government of India to Indian Companies. The IEC code is permanent in nature until it’s surrendered by the IEC holder or cancelled by the Licencing Authority upon any default made be the IEC holder. one wants to export or import any goods, one needs to have an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC). The certificate is issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and needs to be registered as an individual, firm, organization, entity. You can register for Importer Exporter code online at Indian Customs and Excise gateway.

Today I received an email communication from Paypal today that confirmed Paypal will resume withdrawals to Indian local banks from 3rd March 2010 onwards. They were in talks with RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and RBI has allowed Paypal India to to resume bank withdrawals for settlements for exports of goods and services. Paypal is currently making changes in their system to comply with RBI guidelines, which will require every Paypal India user to fill a ‘Export code‘ while they withdraw money to their Indian bank account (ICICI, HDFC, Punjab National Bank, OBC, HSBC, Citibank anything).

What does this mean for you?

If you are business in India who is selling goods and services globally, you may be good to go and use Paypal to withdraw the payments. If you don’t have import export code yet, you may read about Export code required.

There is still no word about individuals payments to India. This bit is still confusing for individuals.

Paypal halted the personal payments to Indian banks after authorities in India objected to no compliance with Indian regulations on 26th Jan 2010.

Here is the email I received -

Dear XYZ,

We have been diligently working with the RBI and our business partners to resume Indian bank withdrawals for the thousands of Indian businesses who depend on PayPal to sell their goods or services in the global marketplace.

Today, we are happy to announce that the RBI has allowed us to continue local bank withdrawals for settlements for exports of goods and services.  We are currently making changes to comply with Indian regulations for settlements for exports of goods and services, and we anticipate that, as of Wednesday, March 3rd, customers will be able to use our bank withdrawal service.

As part of the changes, you will be required to fill out a new field entitled ‘Export Code’ when you request a withdrawal. This information is required under the current laws of India in order to identify the nature of cross-border merchant transactions.

On Monday, March 1st, we will be back in touch with specific instructions on how you can move your money into your bank account.

Moving forward, the RBI has told us that PayPal needs specific approvals to allow personal remittances to India, which we currently do not have.  Until we get these approvals, personal payments into India will remain suspended.  However, if you are an exporter, you will continue to be able to use the PayPal service for payments of goods and services.  In fact, with the changes we are making to our system, PayPal is now set to be a more powerful engine for exporters in India.  With purpose codes for export transactions and FIRCs (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates), you should now be able to get the export related benefits you seek.

You can check the PayPal blog for additional updates.

We thank you for your business and for your patience during the past few weeks.

Sincerely,

PayPal

So what changes you are expected to do in your Paypal account?

I would imagine that Paypal will ask you to accept the new terms and conditions in the first week of March and you will have to fill the ‘Export code‘ while withdrawing the money. My suggestion to individuals is not to rush on withdrawals immediately, meanwhile the things would become clearer on individual payments.

Experts-Exchange website is sometimes a good stop for many technological solutions; specially for software programmers, testers, Infrastructure teams etc. It frustrated me many times when I googled for solution and reached ExpertsExchange just to know that it’s not accessible for free. Unfortunately the answers to the questions we search for are usually needed immediately, just because you cannot proceed further in your work. That’s why this quick solution to view those answers for free. For further use, I recommend you subscribing the ExpertsExchange website.

How to view ExpersExchange Solutions free