This Bill amends the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, the law that governs how Indian NGOs, trusts, schools, hospitals and religious bodies may receive money from abroad. Its central concern is what happens to assets when an organisation loses its FCRA licence. At present the law is unclear once a registration is cancelled, surrendered or simply not renewed, and property bought with foreign funds can sit in limbo for years.
The Bill creates a Designated Authority in which such assets and any unspent foreign contribution automatically vest when registration ends. Where a building or asset was funded only partly from abroad, the whole asset still vests, although the organisation may apply to have the clearly identifiable domestically funded share returned. Places of worship that vest in the Authority must keep their religious character.
Two changes cut the other way. The maximum prison term for FCRA offences drops sharply from five years to one year, softening what has been a heavily criminalised regime. At the same time, office bearers and key functionaries are presumed liable for a violation unless they can show they neither knew of it nor could have prevented it with due diligence. For the voluntary sector this combination matters: less jail risk, but far more personal exposure for trustees and directors.