Navigating the New Maze: 5 Surprising Changes in India's 2025 FCRA Rules for NGOs

The 5 Key Takeaways from the FCRA Amendment Rules, 2025

1. Personal Scrutiny Intensifies: Key Members Are Now Under a Microscope

A major amendment introduces a new paragraph, 1A, into the mandatory affidavit known as proforma ‘AA’. This affidavit, which must be submitted by every key member of the association, now requires each individual to "solemnly affirm on oath" three critical points. This language is crucial; it elevates the declaration to a sworn affidavit (ipathpatra), carrying significant legal consequences for falsehoods and shifting accountability to direct personal legal liability.

This new declaration requires each individual to confirm:

• Their citizenship status, including providing Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card details if applicable.
• Whether they have ever been convicted under any law currently in force.
• Whether any prosecution for any offense is currently pending against them.

This change is significant because it shifts a portion of the compliance burden from a purely organizational responsibility to a direct, personal legal declaration. Board members, trustees, and chief functionaries are now individually accountable for disclosing their legal and criminal records to the authorities as part of the FCRA process, placing their personal histories under official scrutiny.

2. A Global Watchdog Arrives: FATF Compliance Is Now an Explicit Requirement

In a monumental shift, the new rules formally link India's domestic regulations for non-profits to global standards for combating financial crime. Applicants seeking prior permission to receive foreign funds (via Form FC-3B) must now provide an "undertaking to adhere to the Good Practice Guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)".

The FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, setting international standards to prevent these illicit activities. Crucially, the rules specify that this undertaking must be submitted in the format available on the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs. By making adherence to FATF guidelines an explicit and formalized requirement, the government is raising the compliance bar exponentially and signaling an intent to align the non-profit sector's financial conduct with international anti-money laundering frameworks.

3. The End of High-Level Summaries: Get Ready for Hyper-Granular Financial Reporting

The era of summarized financial reporting is over. A critical amendment to the "certificate to be given by Chartered Accountant" in Form FC-4 introduces a mandate for forensic-level detail. The new certification language leaves no room for ambiguity:

"I have examined all relevant books and records, and I hereby certify the following activities/project wise and location wise details of receipt and utilisation of foreign contribution"

This requirement for "project wise and location wise" details is a drastic departure from previous norms. The new certified table demands the tracking of previous balances, receipts, and utilisation separately for both cash and in-kind contributions, project by project. This will substantially increase the accounting and auditing workload for organizations and their Chartered Accountants, indicating a clear move towards demanding absolute, forensic-level transparency.

4. Internal Governance Is No Longer Just Internal: Resolutions Now Required for Almost Every Change

The new rules place an organization's internal decision-making processes firmly in the official record. A common thread across multiple forms—FC-6A (name/address change), FC-6B (change in aims), FC-6C (bank change), FC-6D (opening a new bank account), and FC-6E (change in key members)—is a new, universal documentation mandate.

For nearly any administrative or structural change, organizations must now submit a "copy of resolution of the Governing body passed before effecting the change." Furthermore, this resolution is often not the only new requirement. For changes to name/address (FC-6A) or aims (FC-6B), a "copy of approval of relevant authority for amendment" is also mandatory. Other forms require letters from banks or new affidavits for key members. This means internal board decisions are no longer just for internal records; they are now a documented prerequisite for notifying the Ministry, reducing operational flexibility in favor of pre-approved oversight.

5. The Paperwork Paradox: A Minor Simplification Masks a Major Increase in Documentation

At first glance, the rules appear to offer a minor simplification. In forms FC-3A, FC-3B, and FC-3C, the requirement to submit pages "showing aims and objects of person/association" has been omitted. However, this small concession is overshadowed by a much larger wave of new documentation requirements across the board, with new mandatory enclosures for registration, prior permission, and renewal applications.

For organizations applying for new registration (Form FC-3A), the list of mandatory enclosures has expanded dramatically. The new requirements include:

• Financial statements and audit reports for the last three financial years.
• Activity reports for the last three years.
• A specific Chartered Accountant's certificate detailing activity-wise expenditure if it is not already in the audit reports.
• An affidavit in proforma "AA" for each key person.
• Special undertakings from the Chief Functionary for associations involved in any publication-related activities.
• A "Not a Newspaper" certificate if the association's publication is registered with the Registrar of Newspaper for India.
• An affidavit regarding foreign contribution usage after the expiry or cancellation of a previous FCRA certificate, if applicable.
• An affidavit for associations whose expenditure on aims was less than Rs. 15 lakhs in the last three years, concerning capital investments.

This creates a paperwork paradox. While one small hurdle was removed, it was replaced by a far more extensive and historically detailed documentation trail. The net result is a clear and substantial increase in the compliance burden for any association seeking to register under the FCRA.