Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched the FCRA 2.0 portal and the electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) card at an event in New Delhi, with Intelligence Bureau Director Mahesh Dixit present. Shah said the two digital platforms would reduce paperwork, improve citizen services and strengthen oversight of foreign contributions and OCI-related processes, aiming to monitor foreign donations in real time. He said the revamped FCRA system would simplify compliance for registered organisations and address long-pending difficulties faced by those receiving donations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The portal is a fully digital, end-to-end platform covering applications, renewals, annual returns and other regulatory services, and is integrated with government and institutional databases including PAN, Aadhaar, OCI, NGO Darpan and the ICAI UDIN system. It will eliminate physical submission of documents and provide e-sign-based authentication, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and NGO Darpan bank account integration. As all data will be hosted on the government cloud MeghRaj, the possibility of data theft will be greatly reduced. An FCRA mobile application, an AI-powered chatbot and a dedicated online dashboard for banks will be launched in the coming months. On the e-OCI card, Shah said it would bring great convenience to more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders. When a new passport is issued after 20 years, the OCI booklet will not need re-issue, the registration number will become unique, and cardholders can carry out real-time verification themselves. The Home Ministry said around 14,500 active FCRA organisations operate in the country.
Amit Shah launches FCRA 2.0 portal and e-OCI card
Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the FCRA 2.0 portal and e-OCI card in New Delhi, aiming to monitor foreign donations in real time and ease processes for over 50 lakh OCI cardholders.
Key facts
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the FCRA 2.0 portal and the e-OCI card in New Delhi on Tuesday, with IB Director Mahesh Dixit present.
- The FCRA 2.0 portal is a fully digital, end-to-end platform covering applications, renewals, annual returns and other regulatory services.
- It is integrated with PAN, Aadhaar, OCI, NGO Darpan and the ICAI UDIN system, and provides e-sign authentication and OCR.
- All data will be hosted on the government cloud MeghRaj to reduce the possibility of data theft.
- The e-OCI card will benefit more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders; the OCI booklet need not be re-issued when a new passport is issued after 20 years.
- The Home Ministry said around 14,500 active FCRA organisations operate in the country.
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On which government cloud platform will the data of the newly launched FCRA 2.0 portal be hosted?
According to the source, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that all data of the FCRA 2.0 portal will be hosted on MeghRaj, the government cloud, which will greatly reduce the possibility of data theft. NGO Darpan and UDIN are databases the portal integrates with, and Aadhaar is one of the integrated identity databases, not the hosting cloud.
Source: The Indian Express
Frequently asked questions
Who launched the FCRA 2.0 portal and the e-OCI card?
Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched both at an event in New Delhi on Tuesday, with IB Director Mahesh Dixit present.
What is the main purpose of the FCRA 2.0 portal?
It aims to reduce paperwork, simplify compliance for registered organisations and strengthen the government's capacity to monitor foreign donations in real time.
Which databases is the FCRA 2.0 portal integrated with?
It is integrated with PAN, Aadhaar, OCI, NGO Darpan and the ICAI UDIN system, and its data is hosted on the government cloud MeghRaj.
How does the e-OCI card benefit cardholders?
It benefits more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders by removing the need to re-issue the OCI booklet on a new passport after 20 years, making the registration number unique and enabling real-time self-verification.
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