By The Diplomat | Created at 2026-08-14 19:25:46 | Updated at 2026-08-14 22:33:43
19 hours ago
On March 25, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment (FCRA) Bill, 2026, was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The bill seeks to amend the FCRA Act 2010, which regulates the receipt and use of foreign contributions by individuals and organizations in India.
Since 2010, the act has been amended three times, most recently in 2020. A key provision of the recent amendment bill relates to the creation of a “designated authority” under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has been empowered to provisionally take over, manage, and dispose of the assets of an organization if its FCRA registration is canceled, surrendered, or undergoes “deemed cessation” due to non-renewal. This change has generated considerable criticism. On August 12, parliament adopted a motion referring the bill to a 31-member joint parliamentary committee, which will scrutinize the bill and submit its report in the first week of the parliament’s winter session.
Beyond strong domestic criticism, especially from opposition parties, the bill has triggered a strong reaction from several American politicians, including Congressman Riley Moore, who slammed the bill as an “attack on Christians.” Senator James Risch, who heads the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described the proposed amendments as “deeply concerning” and said the U.S. would not “hesitate to call out countries who violate… human rights of Christians and other religious groups around the world.” In an opinion piece for the Washington Examiner in May, Congressman Chris Smith described the legislation as “designed to set up the expropriation of Indian Christians.”
Categorically rejecting such claims, India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the FCRA Amendment Bill as an “internal matter.” In a bid to alleviate Washington’s concerns, India’s Ambassador to the U.S. Vinay Mohan Kwatra took to social media to “debunk” certain “myths” surrounding the proposed bill. He said the bill seeks to improve transparency and make way for better governance and clearer rules. Kwatra highlighted how foreign contributions received by registered organizations in India have increased from $1.2 billion in 2010-11 to $2.67 billion in 2024-25.
Against this backdrop, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor held back-to-back meetings early this week with Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. While the specifics of their discussions were not revealed, the timing of the meeting suggests that it was an attempt to prevent the issue from snowballing into a diplomatic crisis.
Notably, Gor also intensified his outreach to states ruled by opposition parties; he held meetings with the chief ministers of Karnataka, Kerala, and Telangana. Both Karnataka and Telangana are ruled by the Congress party, which has been extremely vocal in its opposition to the FCRA. The Kerala Legislative Assembly has even passed a resolution urging the Union government to repeal the amendments to the FCRA, claiming they are “a breach of Constitutional provisions and federal principles.”
Critics of the amendment bill highlight that tighter controls could make it harder for legitimate organizations to access overseas funding. Archbishop Joseph Dsouza, president of the All-India Christian Council, described the amendment bill as “legalized loot of the Indian Christian community and the global Christian community.”
International Christian Concern, which describes itself as a Washington D.C.-based religious organization serving persecuted Christians worldwide, alleged that under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, Christian-aligned organizations in India are facing heightened scrutiny. It stated that more than 70 percent of NGOs whose licenses expired as of January 2022 were “aligned with Christian programs.”
In 2016, Compassion International, a Christian charity organization, was placed on a watchlist by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs due to suspected involvement in religious conversions. In response, the U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee held a full committee hearing, “American Compassion in India: Government Obstacles,” during which several members reprimanded the Indian government for restricting the charity’s operations in India. Compassion International claimed that Indian government restrictions prevented it from getting funds through to India, ultimately forcing it to wind up its work in the country in 2017.
In May this year, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his four-day visit to India in Kolkata, visiting the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa. After his visit, Rubio took to X to describe the mission as a “living example of the Catholic faith in action.” His visit to Kolkata, the first by a U.S. secretary of state in almost 14 years, sent a strong signal conveying that protection of American civil society assets in India remains a priority for the Trump administration. Back in December 2021, the FCRA license of the Missionaries of Charity was temporarily canceled, resulting in an international backlash and domestic criticism, forcing the government to restore the organization’s FCRA status on January 7, 2022.
The Indian government’s defense has been that such laws are not unique to India. Several countries, including the United States, have laws in place that regulate the flow of foreign funds. Several government representatives have repeatedly insisted that the law is “religion neutral” and that legitimate organizations have nothing to fear from the proposed amendments.
New Delhi says valid concerns underlie its restrictions on foreign funding to NGOs. In 2020, for instance, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against a non-profit, Caruna Bal Vikas, for allegedly violating FCRA rules by engaging in activities that involved “converting poor children into fulfilled Christian adults.”
Evidently, the FCRA issue has been a lingering point of friction between India and the United States. While Washington often points to weaponization of FCRA by the BJP government to curtail freedom of association, New Delhi maintains that it is a necessary national security measure to prevent the use of foreign funds for activities that threaten India’s sovereignty.
With the FCRA issue back in the spotlight, the question it raises is: will this impact India-U.S. ties? Historically, by itself, this issue has not derailed ties since both sides recognize that the bilateral relationship is too consequential and broad-based.
However, given the changed circumstances under the second Trump administration, strained bilateral ties over trade tensions, repeated tariff threats, renewed U.S. engagement with Islamabad, among other things, may mean that this issue will add to the web of complications. Its most immediate impact may be in further delaying ongoing negotiations over the bilateral trade deal, the framework for which was first announced in February 2026.
Based on a Reuters report from July this year, the long-awaited agreement was expected to be signed within three to four months. If the FCRA row persists, alongside other irritants, the trade deal will remain in limbo for the foreseeable future.
During his first term, President Donald Trump made fighting Christian persecution around the world a foreign policy priority. Washington’s recent move allocating nearly $2 billion to “faith-based and community organizations” that provide global health and humanitarian assistance around the world reflects how religious freedom remains a foreign policy priority for his second term as well. Given that policymakers in Washington continue to view India’s legislative actions over the FCRA as restrictions on religious freedom, New Delhi cannot afford to ignore the friction without risking real damage to bilateral ties.
