New Delhi: Non Government Organisations (NGOs) involved in proselytisation will not longer be eligible for registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The Ministry of Home Affairs has amended the FCRA Rules, 2011, for NGOs to receive foreign funds, allowing a range of faith-based activities, but not proselytisation. The gazette notification for the new rules was issued late on Monday.
Any association having foreign nationals, other than those of Indian origin, as its key functionaries will “ordinarily not be considered” for registration or prior permission to receive foreign funds, the amended rules say.
The Centre may, however, specify cases or circumstances, through an order, in which foreign nationals may be permitted to be key functionaries of an association for registration or prior permission under FCRA.
A new clause has been introduced under which NGOs seeking registration for foreign funds will have to specify the exact purpose and declare the state or Union Territory where they operate.
“Every application for registration shall mention the purpose or purposes for which registration is sought, chosen only from such list of purposes as specified in the Schedule appended to these rules; and the states or Union territories in which the association proposes to undertake the activities,” the notification said, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The details shall be specified on the certificate issued to the NGO, it said. The applicants must also choose their activities from a “Schedule” provided in the rules, covering religious, cultural, economic, educational, and social categories as purposes.
Religious purposes involve activities ranging from construction, renovation, and maintenance of religious places, religious education, and promotion of devotional music, among others.
The rules specify religious education, documentation of faith traditions, and preservation of indigenous beliefs, “excluding proselytisation”.
The condition has also been mentioned in “documentation, preservation, and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices, rituals, and systems of worship” and “conduct of religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses, and meditation retreats”.
Under the amended rules, NGOs registered before 2026 have a year to disclose their specific purposes and specify the states they want to keep in their registration.
An additional Rs 300 will be charged for every extra state or purpose added to the application.The government has also introduced a minimum spending limit of Rs 10 lakh of foreign contributions on chosen activities over the last two financial years, to prevent inactive NGOs from holding on to licences.
An NGO must have spent the amount of foreign contribution over the last two years on its chosen activities for it to renew its registration or avoid cancellation.
For NGOs receiving foreign funds for a specific purpose under “Prior Permission”, the second or any later instalment of funds will only be released after it has utilised at least 75% of the previous instalment, the rules state. The government will conduct field inquiries to verify the utilisation.
Details of their social media accounts have to be provided in their applications by the NGOs receiving foreign funds for registration or renewal under FCRA. If money comes through intermediary remittance vehicles or “donor-advised funds”, the NGO must disclose the ultimate donor (the source of the money) in its applications. Subsequently, the annual returns must now include a “detailed activity report” alongside financial statements.
The NGOs will also have to declare if they publish any books or articles, as they are prohibited from producing or broadcasting “news or current affairs”.
