India FCRA licence cancellations of environmental NGOs
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Several organisations working on environmental and related policy issues in India lost their licences to receive foreign donations between 2015 and 2024. One research source reports about 20,693 such cancellations across all NGOs in a decade.
Greenpeace India, Centre for Policy Research, Environics Trust and CACIM / Centre for Financial Accountability, as listed in the sources reviewed. A fifth, LIFE, is listed only as targeted and is not counted.
Status As of October 2026 (research date): cancellations of four named organisations recorded for 2015–2024; the outcomes of court challenges by two of them were not established in the sources reviewed.
- Greenpeace India — Licence suspended for 180 days and seven bank accounts frozen (April 2015); registration cancelled in 2015.
- Centre for Policy Research — Licence suspended in 2023 and cancelled in January 2024.
- Environics Trust — Licence cancelled on 4 March 2024.
- CACIM and the Centre for Financial Accountability — Licences recorded as cancelled.
What happened
In India, non-governmental organisations need a foreign-funding licence, known as an FCRA licence, to receive donations from abroad. the sources reviewed record that the licences of Greenpeace India and of other environmental organisations were cancelled.
For Greenpeace India, the notes record that its licence was suspended for 180 days and seven bank accounts were frozen in April 2015, and that its registration was cancelled in 2015. The Centre for Policy Research had its licence suspended in 2023 and cancelled in January 2024. Environics Trust had its licence cancelled on 4 March 2024. CACIM and the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) are also recorded as cancelled, without a date in the notes.
The notes also record a figure of about 20,693 FCRA cancellations across all NGOs over a decade (2014–2024), attributed to Tribune India reporting. This figure was and was not independently verified.
the sources reviewed give no statement from the Indian authorities on their grounds for the cancellations, and no statement from the organisations concerned.
- 2015Greenpeace India's foreign-donation licence suspended for 180 days and seven bank accounts frozen (April); registration cancelled in 2015
- 2023Centre for Policy Research licence suspended
- 2024Centre for Policy Research licence cancelled (January); Environics Trust licence cancelled (4 March); CACIM / Centre for Financial Accountability recorded as cancelled
How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- Greenpeace India: licence suspended for 180 days and seven bank accounts frozen, April 2015; registration cancelled in 2015.
- Centre for Policy Research: licence suspended in 2023 and cancelled in January 2024.
- Environics Trust: licence cancelled on 4 March 2024.
- CACIM and the Centre for Financial Accountability: licences recorded as cancelled; no date given.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Figures
- Insufficient Fcra cancellations all ngos: Cancellations of foreign-funding licences across all NGOs over a decade (2014–2024) of Tribune India reporting; not independently verified.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: about 20,693 FCRA cancellations across all NGOs in a decade (Tribune India, via a secondary summary).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the licence of the body to which the Centre for Financial Accountability is affiliated was cancelled for 'declaration errors' after it reported on environmental risks of an Adani group special economic zone at Kutch.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that LIFE (a forest and environmental law organisation) and Environics Trust were among five organisations investigated in 2024; the outcome for LIFE could not be confirmed.
- Insufficient Reported by Indian press but not verified: that Greenpeace India's registration was cancelled in September 2015.
- None on record the sources reviewed give no harm to a specific ecosystem arising from the cancellations.
Did the harm stop?
Who paid?
Sources
Press and investigations
- FCRA licences of 5 NGOs cancelled by Home MinistryTribune India · 2024