FCRA licence of 5,000 NGOs cancelled: govt

Nearly 5,000 NGOs were barred by the government from receiving foreign funding after cancellation of their licences since April 2017, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said the registration of the NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was cancelled after they were found to be violating the laws.

"Close to 5,000 FCRA registrations have been cancelled since April 1, 2017," he said in a written reply.

Rijiju said one time opportunity to upload pending annual returns from 2010-11 onwards without depositing any penalty was provided to all the defaulting NGOs from May 14, 2017 to June 15, 2017.

Replying to another question, the minister said during the last five financial years, Directorate of Enforcement has registered cases against 2,745 companies under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, out of which 537 cases have been closed and 183 show cause notices have been issued.

Further, cases against 289 companies have also been registered under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, he said.