Govt notifies new FCRA rules, restricts foreign nationals as NGO functionaries

IN a displace widely expected to supercharge the fund-raising power of spiritual bodies registered as non-government organisations, and check down on conversion, the Union home ministry has amended rules for receiving foreign funds under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).The amended rules also say that any association with foreign nationals, other than those of Indian origin, as its key functionaries will “ordinarily not be considered” for grant of registration or prior permission to receive foreign funds under the Act. And they require NGOs to explicitly mention the regions where they will operate, and details of their social media accounts.A gazette notification in this regard was issued late Monday evening.Also Read | Proselytisation excluded from faith-based activities as govt amends FCRA rulesTo be sure, these rules are independent of an amended bill the government introduced in March, which it is likely to try and pass in the coming session of Parliament. That bill has proved controversial, with religious groups within the country and also outside protesting some of its provisions.The new rules notified carved out an exception allowing the central government to specify such 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, the notification said.Over the past few years, the government has notified a number of amendments in the FCRA rules, 2011, tightening the accountability for how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations in India receive and use foreign money.The amendments have broadened the definition of key functionary in relation to a person other than an individual” to cover a wide range of roles including company directors, partners in firms, trustees, the ‘Karta’ (trustee) of a Hindu Undivided Family, and any person who has control over the management of the association. The government has introduced a new clause wherein NGOs seeking registration for receiving foreign funds will have to specify exact purpose and state or Union Territory of its operations.Also Read | The deferred FCRA bill calls for a quiet burial“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 issued on Monday said. It said that the details shall be specified on the certificate issued to the NGO and that the applications must now choose their activities from a “Schedule” provided in the rules, covering religious, cultural, economic, educational, and social categories as purposes.Under the religious purposes, various activities have been listed , including construction, renovation, and maintenance of religious places, religious education, and promotion of devotional music.The rules specify that three purposes -- religious education, documentation of faith traditions and preservation of indigenous beliefs -- may be carried out “excluding proselytisation”.The rules give one year to all associations registered before 2026 to disclose to the government their specific purposes and states they want to keep in their registration. The Centre has also introduced a fee structure through the amended rules where an additional ₹300 will be charged for every extra state or purpose added to the application.In order to prevent inactive NGOs from holding onto licences, the government has introduced a minimum spending limit of ₹10 lakh of foreign contribution on the chosen activities over the last two financial years, according to the notification. NGOs receiving foreign funds must also provide details of their social media accounts in their applications 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 original source of the money) in their applications, according to the notification. Subsequently, their annual returns must now include a “detailed activity report” alongside financial statements, the rules state. NGOs will also have to declare if any books or articles have been published by them or their key, as they are prohibited from producing or broadcasting “news or current affairs”.FCRA, 2010, which came into effect in 2011 regulates the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contributions and foreign hospitality to ensure that such inflows do not adversely affect national interest, public order or national security. The law came into force on May 1, 2011 and has since been amended in 2016, 2018 and 2020.In March this year, the government introduced a new bill , Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 to introduce changes like allowing government to appoint a “designated authority” to take over, manage, or sell assets created from foreign funds by an NGO whose licence under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA, is cancelled, suspended, or simply not renewed. Legal experts argued the amendments impose excessive regulatory burdens on NGOs, potentially reducing funding and hindering charitable, social, and development work. They also contended that the changes may disproportionately affect certain religious organisations.Senior advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir, who has appeared in several FCRA cases, said, “FCRA facilitates infusion of funds. Instead of introducing a mechanism for supervision of the Act, the government is inducing a crackdown. The new amendments have been brought in mainly to falsely target Christian and Muslim by accusing them of indulging in religious conversions despite absence of any evidence.”Abishek Jebaraj, a Supreme Court lawyer, described the amendments as “another example of half-baked, hasty rules”.“These new regulations will not help bolster. Instead they will hamper the social sector which faces more regulatory ambiguity without the administrative resources to navigate changes every few months. For example, the latest amendment appears to require FCRA-registered NGOs to disclose states they seek to utilise funding for. Take for example, an NGO working largely in Tamil Nadu to prevent human trafficking takes action in a case where a minor is trafficked for sexual exploitation in Assam. Can they provide aid to the victim without worrying about prosecution for not having permission to work in Assam under FCRA”, Jebaraj said.