The Infosys Foundation, established in 1996 by the chairperson Sudha Murthy, supports projects in education, rural development, health care, arts and culture, and destitute care. The website tells its mission is to work in remote regions of India. However, the registration of Bengaluru-based NGO Infosys Foundation has been cancelled by the Home Ministry for alleged violation of norms in receiving foreign grants.
All NGOs are ought to register under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA to receive foreign funding. Last year itself, the Union of Home Ministry served show cause notices to nearly 1,755 NGOs, including Infosys Foundation, and a few other companies for not submitting its annual income and expenditure statement on foreign funding for up to six years despite repeated reminders.
The FCRA guidelines suggest that registered associations are required to submit an online annual report electronically with scanned copies of income and expenditure statement, receipts and payment account, balance sheet, etc., for every financial year within nine months of the closure of the financial year.
The guidelines also say that within a given period, associations which do not receive foreign contribution during a particular year are also required to furnish a ‘NIL’ return for that financial year. When contacted, Infosys Foundation said its de-registration from the FCRA followed a request it proactively made to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The request was done as the Infosys Foundation does not come under the purview of the FCRA following the amendment made to the act in 2016. We had approached the ministry to consider this, and thank them for granting our request,” said Rishi Basu from the foundation’s corporate marketing and communications division.
