3,292 NGOs have 15 days to comply with FCRA rules or will lose licence

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs has issued notices to 3,292 NGOs/associations including Delhi University, JNU, IGNOU, IIT Madras, asking them to submit their annual returns from 2011-12 to 2016-17 within the next 15 days or face cancellation of licence under FCRA 2010.

In an order issued this week, the ministry asked groups registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 to submit their mandatory annual returns for these six years on the FCRA portal online “immediately”.

According to the rule, those NGOs/organisations that do not receive funds from foreign countries are also required to furnish a ‘nil’ return.


Some of the groups that have been sent notices this week include prominent higher education institutions like University of Delhi, JNU, Indira Gandhi National Open University, IIT Madras, School of Planning and Architecture Delhi, Indian Council of Agricultural Research among others.

“This is the final opportunity these organisations have,” said a senior MHA official.

The ministry had last year barred some of these institutions from receiving foreign funds as they failed to file their annual returns. In 2017, several opportunities were given to the defaulting NGOs/institutions to provide the details of their income and expenditure, receipt of funds from abroad and balance-sheets without paying any penalty but a large number of these organisations are yet to adhere to the MHA orders.