It also said that the validity of those entities which were registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and whose five year validity period is expiring during July 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024, but have applied for renewal before expiry of the five year validity period, will stand extended up to September 30, 2024, or till the disposal of the renewal application — whichever is earlier. It was further noted that the NGOs whose renewal application has been denied or FCRA licences cancelled are not eligible to receive or utilise foreign grants.
This is the 10th time that the Centre has granted extension to NGOs following passing of FCRA Amendment Act, 2020, in September 2020. According to sources, several prominent NGOs have lost their FCRA licences in the latest round of scrutiny while 183 new FCRA registration licences have been issued to NGOs in the first six months of this year. These include Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation and Vedanta-backed Cairn Foundation, among others.
The MHA recently sought from the NGOs registered under the FCRA details regarding moveable and immovable assets created by them using foreign grants. As per the FCRA laws, donations made by an Indian origin person who has acquired foreign citizenship is treated as foreign contribution. This will also apply to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders. However, this will not apply to ‘Non-resident Indians (NRI), who still hold Indian citizenship as they are not foreigners.
