The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), governs how foreign funds enter India for charitable/ social purposes and who can receive them. If your NGO, trust, society or Section 8 company plans to receive donations from abroad, then registration under FCRA Act needs to be done. Without proper registration under this Act, accepting even a single rupee from a foreign source is illegal and can lead to heavy penalties, suspension or in serious cases, permanent cancellation of your organisation’s ability to operate.
The entire process is handled online by the Ministry of Home Affairs through its portal at fcraonline.nic.in. While the steps seem simple on paper, the registration calls for careful paperwork and full compliance with eligibility rules. Here is a detailed explanation of what to expect.
Who Can Apply
Before you even open the FCRA portal, make sure your organisation actually qualifies. The Act is fairly strict on eligibility. Your organisation must be registered as a trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or as a Section 8 company under the Companies Act, 2013.
In addition to the prescribed legal structure, the organisation is required to demonstrate a satisfactory operational record. The entity must have been in existence and actively engaged in its principal charitable activities for a minimum period of three years preceding the application. Further, it is necessary that the organisation has incurred an expenditure of not less than fifteen lakh rupees towards its core charitable objectives, exclusive of administrative expenses, during this period. These requirements are intended to establish the bona fides of the applicant entity.
There are also disqualifying conditions worth noting. Your office bearers must not have been prosecuted or convicted for activities like promoting sedition, inducing forced religious conversion, or misusing funds. The organisation itself must not have been banned earlier from accepting foreign contributions.
Caution: If any office bearer, trustee, or executive committee member is a foreign national other than a person of Indian origin, your application will almost certainly be rejected. The Ministry of Home Affairs treats this as a standard ground for refusal. OCI and PIO card holders are considered persons of Indian origin and are allowed on the board. But a foreign national cannot be part of your governing body unless the Central Government grants specific prior approval, allowed only in narrow cases like an ex officio role representing a multilateral body or a purely honorary position based on the person’s stature. Before applying, review your board composition carefully and restructure if needed.
Prior Permission
The FCRA allows two types of approvals, and knowing the difference is important.
- The first is full registration, which gives your organisation a five year license to receive foreign funds for approved purposes. This is the standard route for established NGOs and you apply using Form FC-3A.
- The second is called Prior Permission. It is meant for newer organisations that do not yet meet the three-year rule or the fifteen lakh expenditure requirement. Prior Permission lets you receive a specific amount from a specific foreign donor for a specific project. You apply using Form FC-3B and need a commitment letter from the donor declaring the purpose and amount of the donation.
It is observed that applicants frequently conflate these two forms. Selection of an incorrect form will result in the application not being processed further.
Groundwork Before You Begin
Two things are now mandatory before you start filling out the actual form.
First, you need a Darpan ID issued by NITI Aayog through its Darpan portal. Getting one is free but takes time, so apply early. Second, your organisation must open a designated FCRA bank account at the State Bank of India Main Branch on Sansad Marg, New Delhi. You do not have to travel to Delhi for this. SBI allows any NGO across India to open and operate this account remotely. All foreign donations will flow only into this account.
Also keep the Aadhaar numbers of your key functionaries ready, including the chairperson, secretary, and treasurer. If any office bearer holds OCI or PIO status, their OCI or PIO card copy will be required in place of Aadhaar.
Filing the Application Online
Once the prep work is done, go to fcraonline.nic.in. On the homepage, click on FCRA Online Forms, then choose the right form based on whether you want full registration or Prior Permission. The portal will ask you to sign up and create a login if this is your first visit.
After logging in, the system guides you through several sections of the form. You first enter basic details about your organisation, including its name, address, registration details, and main aims. Then comes the Executive Committee section, where you add information about every office bearer, director, and key functionary. Be thorough. Missing details here are a common reason for application rejection.
The next steps cover your bank account details, organisational objectives, and a declaration section. You will also upload supporting documents in PDF format. The typical list includes your registration certificate or trust deed, memorandum of association, audited financial statements for the past three years, a detailed activity report for the same period, a copy of your PAN card, Aadhaar cards of key functionaries, bank account details, and the chief functionary’s signature in JPG format.
Each document has a file size limit on the portal. If you upload files that are too large or in the wrong format, the system will reject them. Keep your documents compressed and clearly named.
Payment and Final Submission
After all sections are filled and documents uploaded, you move to the payment stage. The fee for full FCRA registration is ten thousand rupees. For Prior Permission, it is five thousand rupees. Payment is made online through the built in gateway. One thing to remember: once you hit submit, you cannot edit anything. Review the entire application carefully before the final click.
What Happens Next
After submission, the Ministry of Home Affairs takes over. Officials review your application, cross-check details and may run background checks on your office bearers. They may ask for additional information or clarifications through the portal, so log in regularly to check messages.
If all goes well, you receive a registration certificate valid for five years. If not, you get a rejection with reasons and can apply again after fixing the issues. Timelines vary. Straightforward applications take a few months, while complex ones may take longer.
Post Registration
You must file an annual return in Form FC-4 within nine months of the financial year ending, along with a Chartered Accountant’s certificate and audited statements. If your foreign receipts exceed one crore rupees in a year, quarterly disclosures are also required on the FCRA portal.
You must maintain separate books of accounts for foreign contributions only. Mixing these funds with domestic donations is a serious violation. Funds must be spent only on the purposes declared in your application, and administrative expenses are capped at twenty percent of the foreign contribution received during the year.
Six months before your certificate expires, apply for renewal using Form FC-3C with a fee of five thousand rupees. Missing this deadline risks losing your registration entirely.
Finally, the government has been steadily tightening FCRA rules over the past few years and the proposed Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill of 2026 signals even stricter oversight ahead. This is not a process you want to rush or take lightly. Many organisations engage a qualified compliance professional to handle the paperwork, since a single error can mean months of delay.
Checkout our FCRA Registration Readiness Wizard India | NGO Eligibility Check | Lexemer