Amit Shah Launches New FCRA Portal and Digital OCI Card, Aiming for Transparency and Efficiency

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a new portal aimed at streamlining the process for registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, and introduced an electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) card. The initiative is intended to reduce paperwork, accelerate application clearances, and enable real-time monitoring of foreign fund inflows.

The FCRA 2.0 Portal and the e-OCI card were unveiled at a programme attended by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Director of Intelligence Bureau Mahesh Dixit, and other senior officials.

Currently, approximately 14,500 organisations with FCRA registrations operate across the country. FCRA registration is mandatory for any NGO or association that wishes to receive foreign donations. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), between 15,000 and 20,000 applications are filed annually under the Act, along with about 17,000 annual returns.

The new portal, hosted on the National Government Cloud (MeghRaj), incorporates features such as process re-engineering, an integrated dashboard, Aadhaar-based authentication, e-Sign facility, and OCR-based document analysis. Unlike the previous website, the new portal does not include a section listing year-wise fresh registrations. In 2022, the MHA had removed sections that listed NGOs whose registrations were cancelled and a page detailing annual returns filed by each NGO.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Shah stated that the government's policy is to ensure transparency and embrace technology to make governance easier for honest individuals while maintaining strict surveillance for wrongdoers. He emphasised that the FCRA system before 2014 was mired in files and procedures, lacking proper oversight, which is critical for national security and development. He noted a significant increase in applications and foreign donations in recent years.

The new portal, Mr. Shah said, will allow effective monitoring of foreign contributions made with malicious intent. The process of physically submitting documents will be eliminated. An FCRA mobile application, an AI-powered chatbot, and a dedicated online dashboard for banks are expected to be launched in the coming months.

Regarding the e-OCI card, Mr. Shah said it will bring great convenience to over 50 lakh OCI cardholders. After 20 years, when a new passport is issued, there will be no need to re-issue the OCI booklet, and the cardholder's registration number will become unique. The digital OCI card eliminates problems of loss or damage to documents and allows cardholders to carry out real-time verification themselves.