The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (Government) introduced the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 (Bill) in the Parliament to amend the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA).
The Bill got a green signal and on Monday the Central Government notified it as an Act to regulate the acceptance and utilization of foreign contributions by individuals, associations, and companies.
The amendment “seeks to streamline the provisions of the FCRA by strengthening the compliance mechanism, enhancing transparency and accountability in the receipt and utilization of foreign contribution worth thousands of crores of rupees every year.”
Members of the legislature and political parties, government officials, judges, and media persons are prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution under this Act
This Act prohibits Sub-granting foreign funds which means that no organization which is registered and granted a certificate or has obtained prior permission under FCRA and receives any foreign contribution, shall transfer such foreign contribution to any other organization.
Earlier institutions were allowed to spend up to 50% of foreign funds received during the fiscal year on admin expenditure. The Act now proposes to reduce it to 20%.
This Acts mandates that “organizations applying for registration, prior permission or renewal of FCRA registration shall be required to “provide as an identification document, the Aadhaar number of all its office bearers or Directors or other key functionaries, by whatever name called, issued under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, or a copy of the Passport or Overseas Citizen of India Card, in case of a foreigner.”
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