NGO coffers swell with foreign funds

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) received a mind-boggling Rs 6,200 crore of foreign funds in 2004-05, nearly 36 per cent of the FDI received by India that year.

Put it down to the tsunami or the Kashmir earthquake, 2004-05 saw the highest-ever inflow of foreign funding to this sector.

The steep jump comes after modest hikes in fund flow since 1999 (see box). Foreign funds of Rs 5,105 crore were received in the previous year, while the figure was slightly lower at Rs 5,046 crore in 2002-2003, according to the foreign contribution regulation division (FCRA) of the home ministry, which monitors all foreign aid.

While Tamil Nadu with Rs 1,190.64 crore reported the highest receipt of foreign funds, Delhi followed with Rs 1,075.23 crore, and Andhra Pradesh with Rs 913.17 crore. Among districts, Chennai (Rs 560.40 crore), Bangalore (Rs 376.97 crore), and Mumbai (Rs 321.82 crore) were the top beneficiaries.

The list of donor countries was headed by the United States (Rs 1,926.95 crore), followed by Germany (Rs 930.92 crore), and the UK (Rs 764.13 crore).

Rati Mitra of Resource Alliance, a foreign funding agency, explained the jump in 2004-05. "The year 2004-05 was particularly disaster-prone; with the tsunami raising Rs 400,000 crore in the UK, a fraction of it came to India," she said.

A break-up of the uses to which the money was put shows the highest amount going for establishment expenses (Rs 948.20 crore), followed by relief for victims (Rs 655 crore), and rural development (Rs 582 crore). The number of NGOs which received foreign funds went up to 33,000 in 2004-2005. Their number was 28,351 in 2003-2004.

World Vision of India in Tamil Nadu received the highest amount (Rs 133.57 crore), followed by Rural Development Trust, Andhra Pradesh (118.75 crore), and Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, AP (Rs 77.57 crore).

The home ministry is particularly happy about the fact that a greater number of NGOs reported their expenditure to the FCRA. This went up from 17,145 in 2003-2004 to 18,500 in 2004-2005.