In an unusual move, India’s ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra took to social media on Monday to counter the objections to the amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act — which regulate laws governing foreign donations received by NGOs, civil society, educational institutions and religious organisations.
His post on X came days after US lawmaker, Republican Congressman Riley Moore, voiced concern over the FCRA amendments, claiming that it would allow the Indian government to take control of churches and charities.
Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had responded to Moore’s comments on FCRA: “We have seen the comments. Legislative matters concerning India are our internal affairs on which decisions are taken by the Parliament of our country, I would also like to point out that there are several nations, including the United States, which regulate the flow of foreign funds.”
On Monday, Kwatra said the amendments to the FCRA were aimed at bringing in more transparency and expected organisations to receive money through a laid-down process.
In a series of posts on X, Kwatra said regulating foreign financial flows in public and political spaces is a sovereign step driven by national security concerns and cited similar laws enacted by the US for this purpose.
“The US has had FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) since 1938 and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) since 2010. Australia legislated in 2018, Canada in 2024. The UK’s scheme came into force in July 2025. The EU is legislating now,” he said.
He said when a registration is cancelled or surrendered, foreign contributions and the assets created from them already vest in a State Government authority under a provision that has been in force since 2010.
“What the 2026 Bill adds is a designated authority to safeguard those assets – and a way back. If the organisation restores its registration, all assets and unused funds are returned in full,” Kwatra said.
“Places of worship carry their own protection. Where a cancelled association has created property connected to a place of worship, that property goes to another FCRA-registered association of the same faith to ensure continuity of worship,” he said.
The envoy also rejected apprehension that the new law aimed at cutting off foreign aid to civil society. “Tens of thousands of associations are registered under FCRA and routinely receive foreign funds for health, education, disaster relief, research and humanitarian work,” he said.
Kwatra said India has over three million NGOs, and only a bare fraction of these, 14,450, hold FCRA registration. “Thus, the overwhelming majority of civil society organisations are entirely outside the Act.”
He said India first enacted FCRA in 1976 and brought in a more modern framework through amendments in 2010.
Kwatra said the FCRA was further strengthened by amendments in 2016, 2018 and 2020. “The 2026 Bill and Rules are the next step in the same direction: more transparency, better governance, clearer rules,” he said.
Kwatra said that regulating foreign financial flows in public and political spaces is a sovereign step driven by national security concerns. “It is an accepted feature of modern governance in many democracies around the world,” he said.
He also dismissed suggestions that the FCRA amendments targeted a particular community.
“Nothing could be farther from it. The Act applies uniformly to all organisations regardless of religion, community or ideology. Faith-based welfare activities, including religious education, maintenance of places of worship, and charitable work by organisations of every faith, continue to be eligible for foreign funding,” he said.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 27 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting and writing explainers and analysis on foreign affairs for about 19 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He won the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award, 2023, for the second time for his reporting of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
