FCRA Registration

An organization having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social program shall accept foreign contribution, only after such organization obtains a certificate of registration from the Central Government. Such a registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 is called a FCRA registration.

Eligibility for obtaining FCRA Registration –

a) Be registered as a Trust or Society or Section 8 Company.
b) Person has an FCRA Account i.e. a bank account with state bank of India, main branch, New Delhi.
c) An association should be in existence for at least 3 years.
d) An association should have spent at least Rs. 15, 00,000/- over the last 3 years on its core activities for the benefit of the society during the last three financial years. (The central government in exceptional cases or in cases where the person making the registration application is controlled by the CG or SG may waive this condition of Rs. 15, 00,000)
e) A person making an application may also include the existing capital investments, like bank, building, vehicles, etc. in computation of its eligibility of minimum spending of Rs.15 Lakh then such person shall:
•   Give an undertaking that the assets shall be vested hence forth with the person till the validity of the certificate.
•   They shall be utilized only for the activities covered under the Act.
•   The rules made thereunder and shall not be diverted for any other purpose till the validity of its certificate of registration remains valid.
f) An association should have 12A registration certificate as well as registration certificate also.

FCRA Bank Account

Every per seeking registration under the Act shall mandatorily open its FC designated bank account with SBI, Main Branch, New Delhi. Further, the person seeking registration has option to open one “Another FCRA Account” and one “Utilization Account” in any PFMS compliant scheduled bank.

Documents Required for the FCRA Registration

• Registration Certificate of Association
• Memorandum of Association/Trust deed
• Activity Report for the last 3 years
• Audited Statement of accounts for the last 3 years
• Associations has to upload affidavit of each key functionary
• Image of the Chief Functionary signature
• Image of the Seal of the Association
• Darpan ID
• PAN of the person/association
• Details of “FCRA Account”
• Registration details under the relevant Act
• Expenditure incurred in last three years towards activities for which registration applied for
• Nature of the person/association- religious, cultural, economic, etc. and its main aims and objects
• Aadhar Number and PAN of all office bearers, directors or other key functionaries
• If any of the office bearer, director or key functionary is a foreigner (including PIO/OCI card holder), details thereof