New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) In a move that promises to be beneficial in increasing the convenience of citizens, the FCRA 2.0 Portal and e-OCI Card were launched in New Delhi on Tuesday by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Both initiatives will enhance facilities for citizens and, in particular, resolve the difficulties faced by those receiving donations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA, which was amended recently.

Among those present at the event were the Union home secretary, foreign secretary, and director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). These initiatives are in line with the “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” policy that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. When the intention is clear, the policy transparent, and there is a mindset to embrace technology, then all forms of governance become very easy for honest people, HM Shah said, adding that a strict surveillance system has been put in place for wrongdoers, so that the country can be made increasingly secure.

The receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions will be monitored – thereby strengthening both national security and good governance. The platform has also been designed to accommodate future features such as an AI-powered chatbot and mobile-based access.

Prior to 2014, the FCRA system was entangled in files and procedures and was beyond proper oversight, which is critical for both national security and development, the Home Minister said.

The system was strengthened after the government was formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi in 2014, he insisted. “The renewal of the FCRA portal today will greatly enhance ease of operations for organisations. He said that in the past years, there has been a significant increase in the number of applications and the flow of donations.

Keeping this in view, reducing paperwork and ensuring real-time effective monitoring of foreign contributions is very important for the country’s security,” HM Shah said. Due to the FCRA law, monitoring of foreign contributions coming with wrong intentions will increase, he said, adding that with the launch of this new system, the process of physically submitting documents will be eliminated.

“Facilities such as e-Sign-based authentication, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and the NGO Darpan bank account integration system will be ensured. Since all this data will be hosted on ‘MeghRaj’ (Government Cloud), the possibility of data theft will be greatly reduced. Along with this, an FCRA mobile application, an AI-powered chatbot, and a dedicated online dashboard for banks will also be launched in the coming months,” the Home Minister said.

He also said that the initial problems faced in the OCI system have been resolved with the launch of the e-OCI card. This will bring great convenience to more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders. There will be no need to re-issue the OCI booklet when a passport is re-issued after 20 years, he said.

The cardholder’s registration number will also become unique. With the digital OCI card, the problem of losing or damaging documents will also be eliminated, and cardholders will be able to carry out real-time verification themselves, HM Shah said.

The FCRA 2.0 Portal has been developed to monitor and enforce all provisions of the FCRA that were amended recently, without causing inconvenience to genuine receivers. All major processes related to applications, renewals, annual returns, and other services have now been made fully digital (end-to-end).

Around 14,500 active FCRA organisations are working across the country at the moment. Every year, approximately 15,000 to 20,000 applications and about 17,000 annual returns are received. Given such a large volume, the need for a modern, technology-enabled, and secure system had been felt for a long time. This portal, hosted on the National Government Cloud (MeghRaj), includes features such as process re-engineering, an integrated dashboard, Aadhaar-based authentication, e-Sign facility, and OCR-based document analysis.

The key provisions of the new FCRA Amendment Rules, 2026, have also been incorporated into it. The portal is integrated with major government databases and banks, including PAN, Aadhaar, OCI, NGO Darpan, and the ICAI’s UDIN system. This portal reduces paperwork, saves time, and provides a simple and more convenient experience for organisations.

It includes faster processing of applications and an integrated, login-based dashboard. For the government, API-based integration with major databases enables faster and more accurate verification, improved compliance monitoring, and effective oversight of the receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions – thereby strengthening both national security and good governance.

The Electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) Card is a major citizen-centric initiative aimed at transforming OCI services for the global Indian diaspora through a fully digital system. Under this system, applicants can complete the entire OCI process online – from submitting the application and uploading supporting documents to downloading the digitally generated card after approval.

Existing cardholders can also obtain their e-OCI Card digitally in most cases without needing a fresh application or physical verification. Under the new arrangement, the requirement to re-issue the OCI booklet upon receiving a new passport after 20 years has been eliminated. However, cardholders will need to update their passport-related details online whenever a new passport is issued.

–IANS

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