The Indian government has proposed major amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), introducing stricter compliance requirements for NGOs, charitable trusts, educational institutions, and religious organizations that receive foreign donations.

The proposed changes include the creation of a designated authority to manage foreign-funded assets if an organization's FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered, expires, or is not renewed. NGOs will also be required to disclose the ultimate source of foreign contributions, update operational details, and comply with expanded governance requirements.

The government says the amendments are aimed at improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and preventing misuse of foreign funds. However, opposition parties, civil society groups, and some international critics argue the proposals could expand executive control over NGO assets and operations.

India Proposes Major FCRA Changes | Tougher Rules for NGOs Receiving Foreign Funds

As many as 3,292 NGOs and institutes, including some top academic centres like JNU, IGNOU, IIT Delhi and Madras, besides the Infosys Foundation in Bangalore have not disclosed their annual foreign donations and expenditure for the last fiscal or previous years, the Home Ministry has said. 
 
The ministry told the NGOs and institutes in a notice that after scrutiny of records for 2011-12 to 2016-17, it has been observed that the mandatory annual returns/accounts for some of the financial years in the said period have not been found uploaded on the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act portal despite several opportunities were given to them to do so. 
 
Those whose names figure in the Home Ministry list include Infosys Foundation, University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Panjab University, University of Rajasthan, Madras Christian College, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Madras, besides others. 
 
The ministry said in the notice that those associations which have not filed the annual returns must file it immediately online.

"The status of submission of mandatory annual return will be reviewed after 15 days of issue of this notice (electronically/physically) in respect of your association, being dispatched to your known addresses. If you fail to submit any of the missing return (s) within this period, appropriate action under Section 10 of the FCRA, 2010 would be initiated against your association for the said violation," it said. 
 
No organisation is allowed to receive funds from abroad unless it is registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). 
 
It is mandatory under the law for such organisations to submit income and expenditure statement to the government annually else their registration is cancelled. 
 
According to the FCRA, the renewal of registration for receiving foreign funds cannot be granted unless the annual returns are uploaded on the FCRA website by the organisation. 
 
Executive Vice President of the Infosys and a trustee of Infosys Foundation, Ramadas Kamath, said the Foundation receives donations only from Infosys Ltd and does not come under the purview of the FCRA. 
 
He said the central government had bought in an amendment to the FCRA regulations to say that even though the FII holding in the share capital of a listed Indian company is more than 51 per cent, the donations given by such a listed Indian company to any Indian charitable trust will not be considered as a foreign contribution. 
 
Mr Kamath said this amendment was bought in by the government of India with retrospective effect and pursuant to this amendment, Infosys Foundation has written to the Home Ministry to derecognise Infosys Foundation under the FCRA provisions as it does not recieve any foreign contributions as per the amended act.

"The Home Ministry has to take appropriate administrative measures to derecognise Infosys Foundation from the purview of the FCRA in consequence to the retrospective amendments to the FCRA," he said 
 
A senior IIT Delhi official said, "We have been pointing this out every year that there are procedural lapses in issuing notices on the FCRA licenses as far as IITs are concerned. We are exempted from registration under the FCRA as IITs are set up through an Act of Parliament and are audited by the CAG."

The ministry said in the notice that those associations which have not filed the annual returns must file it immediately online

As many as 3,292 NGOs and institutes, including some top academic centres like JNU, IGNOU, IIT Delhi and Madras, besides the Infosys Foundation in Bangalore have not disclosed their annual foreign donations and expenditure for the last fiscal or previous years, the Home Ministry has said. The ministry told the NGOs and institutes in a notice that after scrutiny of records for 2011-12 to 2016-17, it has been observed that the mandatory annual returns/accounts for some of the financial years in the said period have not been found uploaded on the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act portal despite several opportunities were given to them to do so. Those whose names figure in the Home Ministry list include Infosys Foundation, University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Panjab University, University of Rajasthan, Madras Christian College, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Madras, besides others. The ministry said in the notice that those associations which have not filed the annual returns must file it immediately online. "The status of submission of mandatory annual return will be reviewed after 15 days of issue of this notice (electronically/physically) in respect of your association, being dispatched to your known addresses. If you fail to submit any of the missing return (s) within this period, appropriate action under Section 10 of the FCRA, 2010 would be initiated against your association for the said violation," it said. No organisation is allowed to receive funds from abroad unless it is registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). It is mandatory under the law for such organisations to submit income and expenditure statement to the government annually else their registration is cancelled. According to the FCRA, the renewal of registration for receiving foreign funds cannot be granted unless the annual returns are uploaded on the FCRA website by the organisation. Executive Vice President of the Infosys and a trustee of Infosys Foundation, Ramadas Kamath, said the Foundation receives donations only from Infosys Ltd and does not come under the purview of the FCRA. He said the central government had bought in an amendment to the FCRA regulations to say that even though the FII holding in the share capital of a listed Indian company is more than 51 per cent, the donations given by such a listed Indian company to any Indian charitable trust will not be considered as a foreign contribution. Mr Kamath said this amendment was bought in by the government of India with retrospective effect and pursuant to this amendment, Infosys Foundation has written to the Home Ministry to derecognise Infosys Foundation under the FCRA provisions as it does not recieve any foreign contributions as per the amended act. "The Home Ministry has to take appropriate administrative measures to derecognise Infosys Foundation from the purview of the FCRA in consequence to the retrospective amendments to the FCRA," he said A senior IIT Delhi official said, "We have been pointing this out every year that there are procedural lapses in issuing notices on the FCRA licenses as far as IITs are concerned. We are exempted from registration under the FCRA as IITs are set up through an Act of Parliament and are audited by the CAG."

3,292 NGOs, institutes yet to disclose foreign donations: Government

United Nations experts on Thursday called on India to repeal a law on foreign donations to charities, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s government of using it to block funds to organisations considered critical of the state. 
 
Since Modi swept to power more than two years ago, his right-wing nationalist government has tightened surveillance on foreign-funded charities regulated under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). 
 
More than 10,000 civil society groups in India have had their licences to receive overseas donations cancelled or suspended since 2014, impairing their ability to work in areas from health to the environment. 
 
The government says the groups violate the FCRA by not disclosing details of their donations or have used foreign funds to engage in &quot;anti-national&quot; activities. 
 
But U.N. experts said they were stunned by the way India was applying the law to stymie its critics. 
 
&quot;We are alarmed that FCRA provisions are being used more and more to silence organisations involved in advocating civil, political, economic, social, environmental or cultural priorities, which may differ from those backed by the government,&quot; said a statement by U.N. Special Rapporteurs Michel Forst, David Kaye and Maina Kiai, who focus on human rights defenders and freedoms of expression and association. 
 
Groups such as Greenpeace India, Lawyers Collective and the Sabrang Trust have had their licenses suspended, said the statement from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. 
 
Greenpeace campaigns against nuclear power and coal mining, Lawyers Collective works on sexual minorities rights and Sabrang Trust is run by Teesta Setalvad, a prominent human rights activist and Modi critic. 
 
A home ministry official contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation said he was not in a position to respond immediately to the comments by the U.N. experts. 
 
There is no official number of charities operating in India, but the government estimates at least two million non-profits work in such areas as the environment, climate change and protecting minority rights. 
 
A 2013 report by the home ministry said some 43,500 groups were registered as charities that received foreign funds but slightly less than half provided details of their donations. 
 
Home ministry officials have said they are enforcing the FCRA to make the non-profit sector compliant and transparent and ensure charities are not engaging in illegal political or anti-national activities. 
 
The U.N. experts said use of the FCRA was &quot;overly broad&quot; and activities deemed political or against the economic interest of the state were vague. 
 
They singled out the treatment of the Lawyers Collective, which works on improving the rights of sexual minorities and those living with HIV/AIDS as an attempt to intimidate, delegitimise and silence the group. 
 
&quot;Human rights defenders and civil society must have the ability to do their important job without being subjected to increased limitations on their access to foreign funding,&quot; the U.N. experts said. 
(Reuters)

More than 10,000 civil society groups in India cannot work due to cancellation of their licences to receive overseas donations

United Nations experts on Thursday called on India to repeal a law on foreign donations to charities, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of using it to block funds to organisations considered critical of the state. Since Modi swept to power more than two years ago, his right-wing nationalist government has tightened surveillance on foreign-funded charities regulated under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). More than 10,000 civil society groups in India have had their licences to receive overseas donations cancelled or suspended since 2014, impairing their ability to work in areas from health to the environment. The government says the groups violate the FCRA by not disclosing details of their donations or have used foreign funds to engage in "anti-national" activities. But U.N. experts said they were stunned by the way India was applying the law to stymie its critics. "We are alarmed that FCRA provisions are being used more and more to silence organisations involved in advocating civil, political, economic, social, environmental or cultural priorities, which may differ from those backed by the government," said a statement by U.N. Special Rapporteurs Michel Forst, David Kaye and Maina Kiai, who focus on human rights defenders and freedoms of expression and association. Groups such as Greenpeace India, Lawyers Collective and the Sabrang Trust have had their licenses suspended, said the statement from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Greenpeace campaigns against nuclear power and coal mining, Lawyers Collective works on sexual minorities rights and Sabrang Trust is run by Teesta Setalvad, a prominent human rights activist and Modi critic. A home ministry official contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation said he was not in a position to respond immediately to the comments by the U.N. experts. There is no official number of charities operating in India, but the government estimates at least two million non-profits work in such areas as the environment, climate change and protecting minority rights. A 2013 report by the home ministry said some 43,500 groups were registered as charities that received foreign funds but slightly less than half provided details of their donations. Home ministry officials have said they are enforcing the FCRA to make the non-profit sector compliant and transparent and ensure charities are not engaging in illegal political or anti-national activities. The U.N. experts said use of the FCRA was "overly broad" and activities deemed political or against the economic interest of the state were vague. They singled out the treatment of the Lawyers Collective, which works on improving the rights of sexual minorities and those living with HIV/AIDS as an attempt to intimidate, delegitimise and silence the group. "Human rights defenders and civil society must have the ability to do their important job without being subjected to increased limitations on their access to foreign funding," the U.N. experts said. (Reuters)

India using funding law to foil dissenting charities: UN experts

foreign-donations

Foreign Donations, News on Foreign Donations, stories on Foreign Donations, articles on Foreign Donations, Foreign Donations stories at Wion, Foreign Donations news, Foreign Donations latest news