NEW DELHI: Foreign funds received by Indian NGOs and associations declined to Rs 15,329 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 17,799 crore in 2015-16. In 2014-15, the inflow of foreign funds stood at Rs 15,305 crore.

The dip in foreign contributions may be explained to some extent by the fall in total number of NGOs and association with valid FCRA licences from more than 40,000 in 2014-15 to 24,000 at present.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju , in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, said that the registration of over 13,000 NGOs was cancelled in the last three years for violations of various provisions of FCRA, 2010 and rules made thereunder.

In reply to a related question, Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha that the FCRA licence of nearly 18,864 associations and institutions had been cancelled since 2011. He said that though one-time opportunity was given to the associations to upload the pending annual returns, containing details of their income and expenditure, receipt of foreign funds and balance sheets, without penalty in May 2017, followed by extension of the amnesty window to June 14, 2017, nearly 2,547 NGOs were yet to submit their pending returns.

