April 14, 2021

Remittances to rural India fall by up to 10 percent as states impose restrictions

Livelihoods: With the Maharashtra government imposing night curfews and mini-lockdowns, remittances to rural India have dropped by 10 percent. Maharashtra is one of the biggest contributors of domestic remittances with a 15-20 percent share of the market.

Fears that Delhi will also impose similar curbs on movement have started affecting the informal labour force with many of them seeking to return home once again to their villages.

Major remittance companies such as Fino Payments and Eko India are seeing a decline in remittances. “We are already seeing a fall in our remittance business and Maharashtra has been the worst affected, with a 10 percent fall. Our field officers are indicating that some amount of reverse migration could further impact these numbers,” said Rishi Gupta, MD, Fino Payments Bank.

Fino and Eko process remittances worth INR 3,000 crore and INR 2,500 crore every month. “The remittance business was just recovering from the impact of the lockdown and labour migration last year. Our fear is that if localised lockdowns extend beyond a week or a fortnight, those would impact the business negatively,” said Abhinav Sinha, co-founder, Eko India. “Night curfews in the biggest remittance corridors have brought a complete halt to payments after 8 pm,” he added.

Read this article on the economic implications of COVID-19 for rural India.


May 20, 2021

Home Ministry extends validity period of FCRA registration certificates

Fundraising & Communications: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a circular extending the validity of FCRA registration certificates to September 30th, 2021. This applies to all FCRA licences that have expired or will expire between September 29th, 2020 and May 31st, 2021. The decision to extend the deadline has been driven by the exigencies arising from the COVID-19 situation.

FCRA refers to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which permits charitable organisations based in India to raise funds from foreign sources.

The order also clarified that nonprofits that have already opened an account and have the requisite permission to receive foreign aid, can henceforth receive it only in these newly-opened accounts.

The FCRA law was amended in September 2020 to include a clause that mandated that all nonprofits receiving foreign aid must necessarily open an account in State Bank of India’s New Delhi Main Branch. The government had initially set the deadline for this account opening as March 31st, 2021; it later extended it to June 30th, 2021 after several nonprofits argued in court that there had been delays because necessary approvals from MHA had not been received.

Several organisations have not been able to receive foreign funds during the crisis caused by the second wave, and this has impacted their COVID-19 relief efforts. Relaxing the foreign funding rules could significantly help organisations ramp up their operations to help individuals, supply critical healthcare equipment, and respond to communities in rural areas.

Read this article to know how amending the FCRA can have unforeseen implications.


May 20, 2021

Corporate spending on oxygen support and medical equipment now counts as CSR

Philanthropy & CSR: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a circular that allows corporate spending on health infrastructure for COVID-19 care to qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure.

This includes setting up medical oxygen generation and storage plants, manufacturing and supply of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cylinders, and other medical equipment to counter COVID-19.  

The announcement comes at a time when all efforts are being directed towards expediting efforts to support the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to the circular, companies can now undertake projects and activities in collaboration with other companies using CSR funds. Additionally, they can contribute to specified research and development projects, as well as publicly funded universities and certain organisations that conduct research in science, technology, engineering, and medicine.

The government had earlier clarified that setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary COVID-19 care facilities would also be considered a CSR activity. Rajesh Verma, the Corporate Affairs Secretary, has requested businesses to consider converting vacant office buildings into COVID-19 facilities to cater to the rapidly increasing caseload.

Read this article to understand why media attention on COVID-19 deaths due to lack of oxygen in big cities has skewed donor priorities.