Foreign funding rules tightened for NGOs, penalties revised

Most significant changes in the religious category for which the Home ministry has listed activities that are allowed “excluding proselytisation”

The Home ministry has tightened the FCRA framework for NGOs and other associations, revising compounding penalties and rewriting the rules to make registrations purpose-specific, while expressly excluding proselytisation from several religious categories, according to gazette notifications issued on Monday.

The amended rules say registration certificates must now specify the exact purpose or purposes and the States or Union Territories where an association will operate. Applicants will have to choose their activities only from a pre-defined schedule, and existing associations have been given one year to file an intimation in the new Form FC-6F saying which purpose and geography they want to retain.

The schedule lays out permitted activities under religious, cultural, economic, educational and social heads. In the religious category, it includes “construction, renovation, and maintenance of temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, monasteries, synagogues, and other places of worship,” along with preservation of scriptures, dharamshalas, langars and religious education. The religious category is one with the most significant changes, allowing the said activities “excluding proselytisation”. The same exclusion appears in items on documentation and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices, and on religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses and meditation retreats.

One entry says support is allowed for “the study, documentation, and preservation of religious philosophy, theology and religious history (excluding proselytisation),” while another permits “conduct of religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses, and meditation retreats (excluding proselytisation)”. A third religious category on indigenous and tribal faith practices also carries the same rider: “documentation, preservation, and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices, rituals and systems of worship (excluding proselytisation)”.

The ministry has also widened the definition of “key functionary” to include company directors, partners, trustees, the karta of an HUF and others who control an association’s affairs. It says associations with foreign nationals, other than those of Indian origin, as key functionaries will “ordinarily not be considered” eligible for registration or prior permission, though the government may make exceptions by order.

The new rules also place sharper limits on how foreign funds are used. The ministry has inserted a new rule saying an association will be treated as having undertaken “reasonable activity” for renewal or cancellation only if it has used at least Rs 10 lakh of foreign contribution in the last two financial years. For prior-permission cases, the next instalment of funds will now be released only after 75 per cent of the previous tranche has been spent and verified through a field inquiry.

The amended forms add more disclosure requirements, including social media accounts, a detailed activity report, and publication details brought out by the association or its key functionaries. NGOs will also have to disclose ultimate donors where money comes through donor-advised funds or other intermediary remittance vehicles.

In a separate notification, the ministry revised compounding penalties for several FCRA offences. The penalty for spending foreign contribution on administrative expenses beyond the 20 per cent limit will now be Rs 1 lakh or 5 per cent of the excess amount, whichever is higher. For speculative investments, the penalty will be Rs 1 lakh or 30 per cent of the amount invested, whichever is higher, along with recovery of 100 per cent of the returns. For diversion of foreign contribution from the approved purpose, the penalty will be Rs 1 lakh or 30 per cent of the amount misused, whichever is higher.

The Home ministry has tightened the FCRA framework for NGOs and other associations, revising compounding penalties and rewriting the rules to make registrations purpose-specific, while expressly excluding proselytisation from several religious categories, according to gazette notifications issued on Monday.

The amended rules say registration certificates must now specify the exact purpose or purposes and the States or Union Territories where an association will operate. Applicants will have to choose their activities only from a pre-defined schedule, and existing associations have been given one year to file an intimation in the new Form FC-6F saying which purpose and geography they want to retain.

The schedule lays out permitted activities under religious, cultural, economic, educational and social heads. In the religious category, it includes “construction, renovation, and maintenance of temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, monasteries, synagogues, and other places of worship,” along with preservation of scriptures, dharamshalas, langars and religious education. The religious category is one with the most significant changes, allowing the said activities “excluding proselytisation”. The same exclusion appears in items on documentation and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices, and on religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses and meditation retreats.

One entry says support is allowed for “the study, documentation, and preservation of religious philosophy, theology and religious history (excluding proselytisation),” while another permits “conduct of religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses, and meditation retreats (excluding proselytisation)”. A third religious category on indigenous and tribal faith practices also carries the same rider: “documentation, preservation, and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices, rituals and systems of worship (excluding proselytisation)”.

The ministry has also widened the definition of “key functionary” to include company directors, partners, trustees, the karta of an HUF and others who control an association’s affairs. It says associations with foreign nationals, other than those of Indian origin, as key functionaries will “ordinarily not be considered” eligible for registration or prior permission, though the government may make exceptions by order.

The new rules also place sharper limits on how foreign funds are used. The ministry has inserted a new rule saying an association will be treated as having undertaken “reasonable activity” for renewal or cancellation only if it has used at least Rs 10 lakh of foreign contribution in the last two financial years. For prior-permission cases, the next instalment of funds will now be released only after 75 per cent of the previous tranche has been spent and verified through a field inquiry.

The amended forms add more disclosure requirements, including social media accounts, a detailed activity report, and publication details brought out by the association or its key functionaries. NGOs will also have to disclose ultimate donors where money comes through donor-advised funds or other intermediary remittance vehicles.

In a separate notification, the ministry revised compounding penalties for several FCRA offences. The penalty for spending foreign contribution on administrative expenses beyond the 20 per cent limit will now be Rs 1 lakh or 5 per cent of the excess amount, whichever is higher. For speculative investments, the penalty will be Rs 1 lakh or 30 per cent of the amount invested, whichever is higher, along with recovery of 100 per cent of the returns. For diversion of foreign contribution from the approved purpose, the penalty will be Rs 1 lakh or 30 per cent of the amount misused, whichever is higher.