Who Can and Cannot Receive Foreign Contribution?
FCRA have strict guidelines for the people and clearly defines who can receive foreign contribution and who cannot. The main motive of this entity is to make sure that the funds received from foreign sources is utilized for a good purpose, and not for the personal benefits. Therefore, they clearly define the required criteria for a person or organization about his qualifications to receive foreign contribution.
Who can Receive Foreign Contribution?Any organization with a definite program related to culture, education, religion or social welfare can receive foreign contribution. However, the organization has to take prior permission from the Central Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs before receiving the funds.
Organizations that are registered under the FCRA are considered eligible to receive funds from foreign sources. Clearly, the FCRA registers only those organizations which are eligible for the same. While registering any organization with them, FCRA do a proper research to get idea about the functional area of any organization.
Who Cannot Receive Foreign Contribution?As defined in Section 3(1) of FCRA, 2010, below mentioned people/organizations are not considered eligible to receive foreign contribution:
A candidate in Election- An MLA/MP/or member of Government
- Correspondents, columnists, cartoonists, editors, owners, publishers or printers of a registered newspaper
- Any government employee/judge or body controlled by the Government
- Member of any Legislature
- Political Party or Office Bearer
- Organization/company dealing in broadcasting audio or visual news
Generally these entities cannot register with FCRA, thus they never become eligible to accept foreign contribution. Violating the rules defined by Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is considered to be a punishable offense and the offender may have to undergo severe penalties or imprison.
If you want to register your organization with FCRA and want to know if you are eligible for accepting Foreign Contribution, seek the guidance from Company-registration.in. Here you will get best advices from experts who will guide you through the registration process as well as describing you through the steps to accept the funds from foreign sources.
Posted by Anita Aswal - 24th June 15