US remains top donor to Indian NGOs

World Vision India based in Tamil Nadu was top recipient among organizations during the 2010-11 financial year

New Delhi, January 20, 2013: Two Christian organizations are the top recipients of foreign donations in the country and the United States continues to be the top donor while Germany lost its second position to the United Kingdom as donor, official records show.

The World Vision India based in Tamil Nadu was top recipient among organizations during the 2010-11 financial year receiving 2,337 million rupees under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA).

The second single agency, the Believers Church India, based in Pathanamthitta town in Kerala received 1,607 million rupees.

Andhra Pradesh-based Rural Development Trust (1353 million) ranked third, followed by Tamil Nadu-based Caruna Bal Vikas (964 million), and Andhra Pradesh-based Women’s Development Trust (727 million).

As a region, Delhi retained its position as the top recipient of foreign contributions, cornering nearly one-fifth of the total 103,340 million rupees donations received by NGOs in the country.

The US remained the biggest donor with contributions worth 32,602 million rupees, though the UK dislodged Germany from the number two spot it had occupied in 2009-10.

Importantly, Bangalore emerged as the top district recipient of foreign donations, attracting 7,740 million rupees in 2010-11, while Chennai finished a close second with collections worth 7,726 million.

The other three districts where NGOs struck it rich are Mumbai (6,437 million rupees), Kolkata (3,872 million rupees) and in Kerala (3692 million rupees).

Pathanamthitta district in the only non-metro among the top five foreign fund magnets, and saw 1,607 million donations going to a single agency, Believers Church India.

The records also show how the finds were used. The largest chunk went into meeting establishment expenses (the figure stood at 13,371.5 million rupees in 2010-11), followed by rural development (8,631.2 million rupees), welfare of children (7452.4 million rupees), construction and maintenance of educational institutions (6814.0 million rupees), stipend/scholarships (4581.3 million rupees) and research (3.644.3 million rupees).

Of the 22,735 associations that filed their returns for 2010-11, 7,754 showed nil foreign contributions.

Among the donors, while US led the pack, UK was a distant second with contributions worth 10,653.5 million rupees, followed by Germany with 10073.9 million rupees, Italy with 4900.1 million and Netherlands with 4688.1 million.

Among the top individual donor agencies are Compassion International (based in the US) with contributions worth 992.0 million, HCL Holdings (Mauritius) with 699.8 million rupees, Action Aid (UK) 626.6 million rupees, Population Service International (US) 489.1 million rupees and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (US) that channeled funds worth 483.7 million to Indian NGOs.

 

– times of india