The Union home ministry on Tuesday warned of penal action if they had been using foreign funding without registering under the Foreign Contribution Regulation or after the registration had expired.

The ministry emphasised that all non-governmental organisations receiving foreign funds must be registered under the Act. They must use the funds only for the purposes for which they had been received, the ministry said in a notification.

Registrations must be renewed within six months before they expire.

The ministry said that it had noticed transactions of foreign funds by some non-governmental organisations who had not been granted registration or renewal under the Act or by whose registration had expired.

Between the financial year 2016-’17 and 2021-’22, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act licences of were scrapped, the Union government had told Parliament in December 2022.

In 2023, the Union government told Parliament that 13,520 non-profit organisations registered under the Act had received Rs 55,741.5 crore in foreign contributions between 2019-’20 and 2021-’22.

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