The Home Ministry of India on Monday, June 22, amended the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules 2011.
The amended rules make it mandatory for organisations applying for FCRA registration to specify their purpose and the state or Union Territory in which they are to function. The purpose can be chosen only from a list provided in the rules.
Organisations already registered under FCRA will have to submit a form specifying “the purpose or purposes and the States or Union territories for which it seeks to retain its registration” within one year after the amended rules commence.
The rules expressly prohibit the use of foreign contributions for proselytisation. The purposes listed under the category ‘Religious’ includes, “conduct of religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses, and meditation retreats (excluding proselytisation).”
The amendment also inserted a definition for “key functionary in relation to a person other than individual”. The term’s scope has been expanded to include a company’s director; a partner in a firm; a trustee of a trust; the Karta of a Hindu undivided family; an office bearer, member of the governing body, managing committee or other controlling authority of a society, trust, trade union or association of individuals; and any other officer or person, by whatever name called, who has control over, or responsibility for the management or affairs of such person.
Organisations whose key functionaries include foreign nationals become automatically ineligible for FCRA registration. “It is hereby clarified that an association having foreign nationals, other than those of Indian origin, as its key functionaries shall ordinarily not be considered eligible for grant of registration or prior permission under the Act,” the amended rules said. There will be exemptions in specific cases in which the Union government grants permission for foreign nationals to be key functionaries.
The amended rules also say that subsequent installments of a foreign contribution will be released to an organisation only after it is satisfactorily found through a field inquiry that 75% of the previous installment has been used for the purposes specified.
In March this year, the Union government had introduced the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2026, proposing drastic changes, including the State vesting assets of organisations whose FCRA registration was declined. This had led to widespread protests, especially in poll-bound Kerala.
