• Why FCRA was introduced in 1976? How has the law evolved since then? Who are key donor countries and what are amounts received since the 1990s? Key Provisions of FCRA2 and Impact.

FCRA in the news again. The Church in Kerala expressed concerns over FCRA2 before the 2026 state Assembly polls. First my earlier articles.

2009 Analysis of Foreign Funding 2002 to 2007, 2010 Do foreign contributions to India impact national Security, 2011 Why better scrutiny is needed FCRA report 2008 09, 2012 What happened to the Rs 94k crores that Indian NGOs received over the last 17 years, 2014 Foreign Funding of Indian NGOs, 2019 Time to review law for foreign funding of Indian NGOs and 2015 Conversions Missing the wood for the trees

Why do organizations remit billions of dollars into India every year is a question that has baffled me (U.S., Germany and U.K.) were the biggest donors earlier. Are there no poor people in their country? Has the Government of India invited them to set up shop in India and aid in its developmental work?

FCRA remittances come mainly from the West. Remittances to Islamic organizations might come through hawala, inflated salaries to Indians working in the Middle East. Domestic funding for some might come from collecting Halal Certifications Fees. 

Why was FCRA introduced and when?

FCRA was introduced in 1975 i.e. during the Emergency where key goal was to prevent foreign powers from interfering in India via local proxies. A 1984 amendment compelled all welfare/cultural NGOs to register before receiving funds. FCRA 2010 introduced by UPA2 repealed the 1976 Act, replaced permanent registration with a five year renewal cycle, expanded the ban to include organizations of a political nature. FCRA 2020 Widened Prohibitions, No sub-granting, Banking and Expenses (all inward remittances into State Bank of India New Delhi Main Branch, administrative expenses cap cut from 50 to 20%.)  

Key Numbers about number of NGOs-Amounts received and CSR Spends

Table 1 Registered FCRA NGOs 3

Note that 8975 lost registration in 2015 for not filing returns from 2009-2010 onwards. TOI 2014 – India witnessing an NGO boom, there is 1 for every 600 people and Indian NGOs received Rs 94,520 crs from 1993-1994 to 2009-10.

Table 2 Amount received by NGOs per year 3

Note ISRO Budget in 2024-25 was app Rs 13,000 crs. Pre-2013-2014, intra-India fund flows were also included.

As per PRS Legislative Research, “As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, 13,520 organisations received Rs 55,741 crore of foreign contribution between 2019 and 2022-3.” 2 My 2010 Rediff article has data on donors and donees n by State

Remittances cannot be justified on the ground that India Inc. was not spending enough on CSR.

Table 3 Comparison of Remittance vs. CSR spends – Rs crores 3

No donation comes free – there are hidden agendas like ideological subversion of a nation, even though accept that some good work is happening. However, with rise in CSR spending enough domestic resources are available. To that add freebies given by Central and State governments. India is after all a $ 2 trillion economy and growing. 

Yet some western organizations try to circumvent control.

According to an article in Indiafacts.org, “An organisation called Women Power Connect was formed in 2004 and trained specifically for the purpose of lobbying and advocacy towards the following causes: 33% reservation for women in Parliament, adoption of domestic violence bill and ADVOCATING for gender-just budgeting. It was funded by International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), which in turn was funded for this project by USAID, an agency of the US Federal Government.” To know how some try to escape MHA net my 2019 art

What is suggestion for managing receipt of funds by Indian NGOs?

Only NRIs/Persons of Indian Origin/Individuals be permitted to donate to an NGO in India. This excludes those organisations that operate like global MNCs and are self-appointed guardians of development worldwide.

Organisations that receive foreign funding under FCRA should not be allowed to fund or file Public Interest Litigations in Indian Courts.

Extracts from earlier articles –

1. 2019 - The top three donor countries are consistently the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Remittances from these three countries in 2011-12 were: Rs 3,838 cr, Rs 1,219 cr and Rs 1,096 cr, respectively.

The top donors were Compassion International, US, Rs 183 cr; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, US, Rs 130 cr; and the Kinder Not Hilfe e. V (KNH), Germany, Rs 51 cr.

The top associations that reported receiving foreign contributions in 2011-12 were: World Vision of India, Chennai-Rs 233 cr; Believers Church India, Pathanamthitta, Kerala-Rs 190 cr; and Rural Development Trust, Ananthapur-Rs 144 cr.

Aravindan Neelakandan wrote in Swarajya that Gospel for Asia saw the 2004 tsunami as “one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people”. Foreign contributions to Tamil Nadu were Rs 775 cr in 2002-03, which leapfrogged post the tsunami to Rs 2,118 cr in 2006-07.

2014 article includes Trends in foreign contributions 1993-94 to 2011-12, largest donors and recipients of foreign remittances and About Donors.

Key Provisions of FCRA 26

1. “Activity-Specific Approvals: Shifted from blanket state-wide registers. Associations must declare precise districts and select from 105 scheduled purposes (Form FC-6F).” 3

2. “Funds are banned from being used for religious conversions (though worship and traditional study remain permitted.” 3

3. “If an FCRA certificate is cancelled, surrendered, or expires, all assets provisionally vest in a government **Designated Authority** (2026 Bill).” 3

4. “NGOs must utilise 75 per cent of the allotted funds before receiving the next instalment.” 9

HT - Six organisations whose foreign funding licence was suspended by govt include Oxfam, Missionaries of Charity, Centre for Policy Research. March 2023

AdventPR, “With the introduction of FCRA 2.0, the Ministry of Home Affairs has digitized nearly every stage of the compliance lifecycle. Registration, renewal, annual return filing, document verification, and communication with authorities can now be managed through a single integrated digital portal.” 4

Details of FCRA 26

1. Per PRS Legislative Research, “In case of assets that are a place of worship, the Authority must ensure that its religious character is maintained. The Act or the Bill does not provide for an appeal mechanism for cases when the central government denies renewal of an FCRA certificate.” 2

Section 16k of the proposed amendment states, “Any person aggrieved by an order of the Designated authority passed under this Chapter may prefer an appeal, within ninety days to the Court of the District Judge within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the vesting, management or disposal was made.” Am I missing something? 

“The certificate may be cancelled if: (i) the holder of the certificate has made an incorrect or false statement, (ii) any terms and conditions of the certificate or the Act are violated, (iii) the government feels that the cancellation would be in public interest, or (iv) the holder of the certificate has not engaged in any reasonable activity for the benefit of society in its chosen field for two consecutive years, or has become defunct.” 2

“Actions taken after assets are vested: The Designated Authority must use the assets permanently vested in it for public purposes. It may transfer such assets to ministries, departments, authorities or agencies of the central or state government. It may also dispose assets through sale or other processes. Proceeds from disposal along with unutilised foreign contribution will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.” 2

“Under the Act, criminal liability for offences committed by a company is borne by its directors and other individuals responsible for its conduct. This Bill defines “key functionaries” who will be held responsible. These key functionaries include: (i) the directors of a company, (ii) a partner in a firm, (iii) a trustee of a trust, (iv) the Karta of a Hindu undivided family, (v) an office bearer, member of the governing body, managing committee or any other controlling authority of a society, trust, trade union or association of individuals, and (vi) any other person responsible for the management of an organisation.” 2

Criminal liability for any act of omission hurts many.

“The example above also shows that an organisation cannot exit the FCRA framework without its assets created through foreign funds being vested in the Designated Authority. Both surrender and non-renewal of certificate would lead to loss of assets. Even if an entity does not receive FCRA funding currently, in order to retain its assets, it would have to continue to renew its certificate in perpetuity.” 2

“Therefore, any organisation with assets created out of foreign funds would have to continue to receive foreign funds if it desires to retain the assets. This provision may be contrary to the objective of the Act, which is to regulate funding from foreign sources.” 2

Joseph wrote in The Wire, “The rules explicitly rule out religious work involving “proselytisation,” artistic work with “political or ideological content.” Read FP – Church role in Kudankulam merits probe and NGO Oxfam India led a malafide campaign against the Assam tea industry. 9

There is a big difference between India and the West. Indic faiths do not seek to convert and say ours is the best unlike others.

The Government of India is well within its rights to prevent conversions, regulate donations coming into India and introducing safeguards to protect national security.

Now some pictures.

Yachuli is St Don Bosco School. Is between Ziro and Itanagar. Pic 2013

Prayer Hall Samba, near Jammu 2014. 

2014. Drive from Imphal to Kohima saw.

Errors if any are inadvertent and without malafide intent. It is not my intent to malign or defame any individual, party or organization.

Surendranath C substantially contributed to this article. 3

Also read and References 

1. How Governments created Christian States North East India

2. PRS India on FCRA 2 Brief

3. Presentation of Surendranath C

3. PRS Act as introduced in Parliament

4. Advent PR on FCRA2

5. Key Changes FCRA2, Impact on NGOs

6. Lawstreet on FCRA2

7. Wire False comparison of FCRA with Western Transparency laws

8. UdayIndia on FCRA2

9. Daily Pioneer on FCRA2  

10. HT - Six organisations whose foreign funding licence was suspended by govt

11. FP – Church role merits probe 

12. TOI 2014 – India witnessing an NGO boom, there is 1 for every 600 people