New Delhi: The Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) licenses of nearly 400 non-governmental organisations have been cancelled, suspended, denied renewal, or deemed to have expired over the last seven months, according to the Economic Times. Among these organisations are the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, headed by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Oxfam India, and the Centre for Policy Research.
The newspaper reported that the Union home ministry’s portal on FCRA – which is mandatory to receive foreign funds – mentions that the number of organisations with active FCRA licences stood at 16,352 as on March 26, 2023, down from 16,727 on August 12, 2022.
The ministry on Saturday granted six months extension to NGOs of “certain categories” to renew their FCRA licence till September 30, 2023, ET reported. The NGOs whose FCRA renewal is “pending with MHA” and “those who have applied/will apply before expiry of 5 years validity period” stands extended until September 30, the notification said.
The minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha on March 15 that as of March 10, there are 16,383 organisations with FCRA active licenses. He also revealed that these NGOs received Rs 16,306.04 crore in foreign funds in 2019-20, Rs 17,058.64 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 22,085.10 crore in 2021-22.
The Union home ministry grants FCRA licences for a five-year period.
The Narendra Modi government amended the Act in 2020, tightening the rules. After the amendments, it is now mandatory to provide the Aadhaar number of all office-bearers, directors, or key functionaries of NGOs that receive foreign contributions. The funds can now only be deposited in the SBI’s New Delhi branches.
Since the BJP government came to power, the number of organisations with FCRA licenses has declined sharply. On January 1, 2022, the home ministry said that nearly 6,000 organisations had lost their FCRA licenses. Before that, in December 2016, the FCRA licences of about 20,000 NGOs – out of about 33,000 that had this license – were cancelled for alleged violations of the Act.