FCRA MHA amends FCRA rules allowing Indians to receive up to Rs 10 lakh annually from relatives abroad without restrictions
New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has amended some rules under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), allowing Indians to receive money up to Rs 10 lakh in a year from relatives living abroad without informing the authorities.
The earlier limit was Rs 1 lakh.
The home ministry, in a notification, also said if the amount crosses the new limit, the recipients of such funds will now have 90 days to intimate the government instead of the 30 days allowed earlier.
The new rules, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2022, were notified by the home ministry through a gazette notification on Friday night.
"In the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011, in rule 6, — for the words “one lakh rupees”, the words “ten lakh rupees” shall be substituted; and for the words “thirty days”, the words “three months” shall be substituted,” the notification said.
With respect to registration or prior permission to receive funds, the amended rules have given individuals and organisations or NGOs 45 days to inform the home ministry about bank account (s) that are to be used for utilisation of such funds. Earlier, this time limit was 30 days.
The Centre has also removed provision 'b' in rule 13, pertaining to the declaration of foreign funds including details of donors, amount received, and date of receipt, etc. every quarter on its website.
Individuals receiving foreign funds under the FCRA will have to follow the existing provision of placing the audited statement of accounts on receipts and utilization of the foreign contribution, including income and expenditure statement, receipt and payment account, and balance sheet for every financial year beginning on the first day of April, within nine months of the closure of the financial year, on its official website or on the website as specified by the Centre.
An NGO or an individual receiving foreign funds no longer needs to declare such contributions every quarter on its official website.
In case of a change of bank account, name, address, aims or key members of the organisation (s) receiving foreign funds, the home ministry has now allowed 45 days time to inform it, instead of previous 15 days.
In November 2020, the government made the FCRA rules tougher making it clear that NGOs which may not be directly linked to a political party but engage in political action like bandhs, strike or road blockades will be considered as political nature if they participate in active politics or party politics.
These included farmers' organisations, students, workers' organisations and caste-based organisations. The government also banned public servants from receiving foreign funds and made Aadhar card mandatory for every office-bearer of NGOs.
The government also imposed a limit of 20 percent for such organsations to use foreign funds for administrative purposes.
This limit was 50 percent before 2020.
The law also requires also NGOs receiving foreign funds to register under FCRA.
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