NGOs get 4 months more to renew FCRA licences

Ahead of the hearing before the Delhi High court, the home ministry extended the deadline by four months for NGOs to apply for the renewal of Foreigners Contribution Registration (FCRA) licences till September 30 and time till June 30, 2021, for opening a bank account in State Bank of India, New Delhi, for receiving the foreign donations.

The earlier deadline for renewal of FCRA licences was May 31 and March 31, 2021, for opening of bank accounts at the designated SBI branch at New Delhi, failing which NGO’s licences could be revoked.

Several prominent NGOs approached the Delhi High Court seeking reprieve from the recently amended FCRA Act, 2020, due to pandemic and the need to speed-up donation for Covid-19 relief work. They also expressed their inability to open FCRA accounts with a designated bank branch at New Delhi and sought six months suspension of the rules. The Delhi HC sought a response from the union home ministry that is likely to be taken up on Thursday.


MHA officials said approval has been granted to three NGOs for their bank accounts with SBI main branch at New Delhi. Among the three NGOs, “immediate approval” was granted to Christian Education Society, Andhra Pradesh, and Comfort Ministries, Telangana, while approval for Mother’s Touch Charity Foundation will be granted once the “application is complete in all respects”, the home ministry added. On April 29, ET was the first to report that the amended FCRA law may be withheld due to pandemic.

“The burdensome restrictions imposed on NGOs receiving foreign aid during a once-in-a-century pandemic has really hampered aid to our citizens who have suffered devastating loss. The temporary suspension on some of these restrictions is welcome. But a lot more needs to be done and our FCRA laws need an overhaul if we want our civil society organisations to flourish within our constitutional order,” Abhishek Jebaraj, counsel for NGOs at Delhi HC, told ET.