Church groups increase pressure on Indian government over foreign funding bill

The chief ministers of the north-eastern states of Mizoram and Meghalaya held meetings with the government to express concerns over the provisions of the bill, which they said threatens minorities and the Christian community in particular.

Political and religious leaders urged India’s federal government to withdraw contentious legislation regulating the receipt of funds from abroad which they say threatens religious institutions.

Opponents said the government should refer the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment (FCRA) Bill 2026 to a parliamentary committee for further consultations.

Many took to social media on 9 August to reiterate their demand after meeting the federal home minister Amit Shah in parliament three days earlier.

In the north-eastern region, which has a significant Christian population, political leaders have appealed for wider consultations before any legislative action is finalised, while Churches across the country have reaffirmed their opposition to the bill.

India’s Catholic bishops urged the federal government to refer the proposed legislation to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for a detailed examination and structured dialogue with civil society stakeholders.

Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto of Delhi, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), said that as long-standing partners in nation-building through education, healthcare and humanitarian service, irrespective of caste and creed, the CBCI appeals to the government to reconsider and roll back the legislation.

In a video appeal, Archbishop Couto said while the community remains committed to a transparent and fair regulatory structure, certain provisions of the FCRA present significant operational challenges for genuine grassroots charitable organisations.

Besides the CBCI, the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Council of Churches in Mizoram also made appeals to the government on social media.

In a video message, the NCCI general secretary Asir Ebenezer raised concerns over provisions relating to cessation and the proposed vesting mechanism. He also called for administrative and judicial review mechanisms to be built into the proposed system.

The chief ministers of the north-eastern states of Mizoram and Meghalaya – Lalduhoma and Conrad K. Sangma respectively – held at least four meetings with Shah last week to express concerns over the provisions of the bill, which they said threatens minorities and the Christian community in particular.

“Christian institutions are the largest providers of charity in remote and tribal areas and their work should not be curtailed,” said A.L.Hek, a legislator for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party from Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district.  

Maintaining that the proposed legislation was “unconstitutional” and could lead to “excessive executive control”, opposition parties, especially the Congress Party, said they will not allow its passage in parliament.

Parliamentarian P. Wilson, chairman of the Joint Action Forum on Minorities, led a delegation of religious heads representing all denominations in India to meet the home minister on 6 July.

“We gave our clause-by-clause representation on the bill. We essentially had three prayers – to withdraw the bill, send it to the JPC for wider consultation and remove the controversial Clause 16,” he said.

Clause 16 introduces a framework for vesting assets created through foreign contributions in a government-designated authority.

These provisions would have far-reaching consequences for educational institutions, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly, healthcare facilities and other charitable institutions serving vulnerable communities across the country, according to Church leaders.

In June this year, the government gave notice of amendments to FCRA rules for entities receiving foreign funds. The new rules provide for a comprehensive framework for vesting, supervision, management and disposal of foreign contributions and assets in a “designated authority”, including provisional and permanent vesting.

Failure to renew a licence granting an entity official recognition will lead to asset vesting. A licence will be considered to have ceased if an entity does not apply for renewal, is refused renewal or it expires without being renewed. Under the bill, there is no way to opt out of FCRA without loss of assets.

The legislation also entails complex compliancy requirements, including the requirement for charities to choose from a set list of purposes and areas of operation, a ban on sub-granting to grassroots organisations, cuts to allowable administrative outlays and a requirement for a single bank branch in New Delhi for all foreign inflows.

The resulting regulatory squeeze has triggered an 87 per cent drop in foreign funding, forcing thousands of secular and community-based organisations to shut down, according to parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor.

With this, “the current dispensation has increasingly reframed non-profit charities, think tanks and human rights groups not as development partners but as sources of subversion and foreign manipulation”, Tharoor said. He called it a profound injustice to subject institutions that have devoted generations to India’s development, education and healthcare to such punitive statutory mechanisms.

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