FCRA Registration ProcessPosted by Enterslice on May 26th, 2018 Any registered NGO is required to apply for FCRA registration under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 if it is planning to receive any kind of contribution from a foreign national. Such investor can be an individual or an organization. This is a mandatory pre-requisite to acquire such FCRA registration; this is not optional in nature.
What is foreign contribution?
We know that FCRA registration is required to receive any kind of foreign contribution. But, what is actually considered as 'foreign contribution' is the big question. Section 2 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 has specified the definition for foreign contribution. This section states that any donation, delivery or transfer made in the following form by any foreign source will constitute as foreign contribution:
Any currency, whether Indian or foreign.
 Applicant for FCRA Registration
One of the most basic requirements of FCRA registration is that it is granted to a non-profit organization. In India, an NGO can be established as trust, society or section 8 companies. This means that in order to become an applicant, it must be registered under any one of the following existing statutes:
Process of Registration
The application procedure for FCRA registration is a totally online process The applicant can file an application for proper FCRA registration or prior approval depending upon their stage of operation. The applicant can apply for FCRA registration, if the organization has been registered and working for the past 3 years. In any other case they are required to apply for prior approval..
FCRA registration is a very straight forward process. The applicant is required to submit online application form FC-3 available on the portal https://fcraonline.nic.in. For both the cases (FCRA registration & Prior Approval), the application will be submitted through FC-3 form. The applicant is required to upload Scanned copies of all the required documents in the form before submitting the application.
One of the most important pre-requisite for filing an application for FCRA registration is that the institution must be registered on the DARPAN portal provided the NITI Ayog. While initiating the registration procedure, the applicant is required to create a login ID, for which DARPAN ID is a mandatory requirement.
This may seem like a fairly easy procedure, but many attachments are required to be submitted along with this application. These attachments are to make sure that the NGO is working with a view to forward its main objective mentioned in the registration documents and that all its transactions are clean.
The submitted applications are scrutinized very intricately by the authorities. In recent years, a lot of licenses have been cancelled and applications have been either rejected or sent for resubmission. Thus, it is recommended to take professional guidance for this application submission.
 Required Documents for Registration
While submitting the FC-3 application form scanned copies of the following documents are required to be attached with it:
For FCRA Registration
For Prior Permission
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