NEW DELHI - India’s Parliament is weighing a sweeping amendment to the country’s foreign-funding law that would empower a government-appointed “Designated Authority” to seize and sell assets belonging to NGOs — including Christian hospitals, schools, orphanages, and churches — that lose their registration to receive foreign donations.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, would expand government control over organizations whose registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act is canceled, surrendered, or not renewed. Under the bill, foreign-funded assets — including facilities built with a combination of domestic and foreign donations — could be transferred to the Designated Authority, which would have the power to manage and, if registration is not restored within a prescribed period, permanently retain them.
The proposed law arrives after years of accelerating restrictions on foreign-funded civil society in India. Since 2010, more than 22,000 organizations have had their FCRA registrations canceled, while more than 15,000 additional organizations have seen their registrations expire without renewal. Only about 14,000 organizations remain active under the FCRA framework. International Christian Concern, a U.S.-based persecution watchdog that has itself experienced FCRA-related restrictions on its ministry in India, warned that the amendment raises the stakes from losing access to foreign funding to losing physical infrastructure and long-term ministry operations.
The FCRA was first enacted in 1976 and substantially revised in 2010. A 2020 amendment banned organizations from transferring foreign funds to other NGOs, required all foreign contributions to be received through a designated bank account in New Delhi, and reduced the percentage of foreign funds organizations could spend on administrative expenses. The 2026 bill would also expand potential liability for organizational leaders, including directors, trustees, and office bearers responsible for management decisions.
For India’s Christian community, the threat is acute. Christian hospitals treat millions of patients each year, and Christian schools educate students from diverse religious backgrounds. Indian officials have frequently claimed that foreign-funded Christian groups use charitable activities to facilitate forced conversions — accusations that religious freedom advocates say rely on broad definitions of conversion and have been used to target legitimate expressions of Christian faith and humanitarian service. More than a dozen Indian states now enforce anti-conversion laws that critics argue criminalize ordinary religious activity; Christians have faced arrests, church disruptions, and mob attacks based on allegations of forced conversion even when evidence of coercion is absent.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular Concern due to what it describes as systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, pointing to the spread of anti-conversion laws, rising mob violence, and government actions contributing to a hostile environment for religious minorities.
Parliament’s consideration of the amendment is ongoing, with religious freedom advocates pressing lawmakers to ensure that foreign-funding regulations are not weaponized against legitimate religious expression and humanitarian service.