FCRA (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Designated Authority

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 25 March 2026 and pending as of August 2026, extends India's foreign-funding regulation from receipt and utilisation of money to the physical and financial assets that foreign contribution created. Under the Bill, where an organisation's FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered, or not renewed, both the foreign contribution held and the assets built from it, buildings, equipment, vehicles, vest in a statutory Designated Authority, which may manage or dispose of them. Vesting is expressly provisional: if the organisation secures restoration of its registration within a prescribed period (left to rules rather than fixed in the statute), all assets and unused funds are returned in full. Only on failure to secure restoration does vesting become permanent, at which point the Designated Authority may transfer the assets to a government agency for a cognate public purpose, or dispose of them by sale, with proceeds credited to the Consolidated Fund of India. The provision marks a qualitative shift from earlier FCRA amendments (1976, 2010, and the 2020 Amendment, which capped administrative expenditure at 20 per cent, prohibited sub-granting, and mandated Aadhaar for office bearers), all of which regulated the flow of foreign money. The 2026 Bill instead reaches the stock, the institutional capacity, hospitals, schools, clinics, built from decades of past receipts. Critics argue that because restoration is decided by the same executive branch that ordered cancellation, and because organisations providing continuous services like healthcare cannot pause operations pending restoration, a nominally provisional deprivation can be terminal in practical effect; supporters note the Bill closes a genuine gap, since previously an organisation could lose the right to receive foreign funds while retaining and repurposing assets built from it, with no mechanism ensuring continuity of the original charitable purpose.

• 1 Introduced in the Lok Sabha 25 March 2026; pending as of August 2026, not yet passed.
• 2 Creates a 'Designated Authority' with power over both funds and physical assets when FCRA registration ends (cancellation, surrender, or non-renewal).
• 3 Vesting is provisional: full restoration of assets and unused funds if registration is restored within a prescribed (rules-based) period.
• 4 Permanent vesting only on failure to secure restoration; assets may then go to a government agency for a cognate purpose or be sold, with proceeds to the Consolidated Fund of India.
• 5 Marks a shift from regulating the flow of foreign money (FCRA 1976, 2010, 2020 Amendment) to regulating the stock of assets it created.
• 6 Constitutional questions raised: Article 19(1)(c) (freedom of association), Article 300A (no deprivation of property save by law), Article 14 (non-arbitrariness).
• 7 Critics demand Select Committee referral for clause-by-clause scrutiny, statutory (not rules-based) specification of the Designated Authority, and a defined restoration window.

A hospital or school that loses FCRA registration under the 2026 Bill would see its buildings and equipment vest provisionally in the Designated Authority; even if registration is later restored and everything returned, critics argue an interim loss of premises could be terminal for continuous services like patient care.