FCRA licenses of over 6000 NGOs expired in 24 hours

New Delhi: Days after refusing to renew the licence for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, the Home Ministry on Saturday morning announced that the FCRA licences of over 6,000 NGOs - required to be able to receive charitable contributions from abroad - expired overnight.

As per sources from the Home Ministry, all NGOs whose licences had expired had not applied for renewal.

According to NDTV, the ministry officials had sent reminders to all NGOs to apply for renewal before Friday, December 31, but many had not done so. "How can permission be given..." an official asked.

Apart from those mentioned, the staggeringly long list of NGOs includes the Tubercolosis Association Of India, the Indira Gandhi National Centre For Arts, and the India Islamic Cultural Centre.

There are now only 16,829 NGOs in India which still have a FCRA licence, which was yesterday renewed till March 31, 2022, or till the time renewal applications (for NGOs who have applied).

22,762 NGOs are registered under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, according to news agency PTI, and they must remain registered (have a license) in order to receive foreign funding.

Late Monday, the Indian government confirmed that on Dec. 25 it officially refused to renew the FCRA, which allows the Missionaries of Charity to fund its operations in India with money from abroad.

The government said it noticed some "adverse inputs" while reviewing the charity's application for renewal. It did not elaborate.

It's unclear how the rejection will affect future operations for dozens of institutions run by the Missionaries of Charity in India.