New Delhi: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Monday launched the FCRA 2.0 Portal and the electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) Card, introducing two digital initiatives aimed at simplifying public services, reducing paperwork and strengthening the monitoring of foreign contributions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has rolled out the FCRA 2.0 Portal and the e-OCI Card, marking a significant step in the government’s push to modernise citizen services through digital governance. The initiatives were launched in New Delhi by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the presence of senior officials from the Ministry.
The upgraded FCRA 2.0 Portal has been developed to simplify compliance under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) while improving transparency, efficiency and oversight of foreign contributions received by organisations across the country.
According to the Ministry, the portal introduces paperless processing by eliminating the need for physical submission of documents. It incorporates features such as Aadhaar-based authentication, e-sign facilities, OCR-based document analysis, an integrated dashboard and API-based verification with government databases. Future enhancements, including an AI-powered chatbot, mobile application and online dashboard for banks, are also planned.
The Ministry said nearly 14,500 active FCRA-registered organisations currently operate in India, while around 15,000 to 20,000 new applications and nearly 17,000 annual returns are processed each year. The new platform has been designed to manage these volumes more efficiently and strengthen compliance monitoring.
Alongside the portal, the government also introduced the e-OCI Card, a fully digital version of the Overseas Citizen of India card. The initiative is expected to benefit more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders by enabling online applications, digital issuance and secure storage of OCI credentials. Existing OCI cardholders will also be able to obtain their e-OCI cards digitally in most cases without requiring a fresh application or physical verification.
The digital card is intended to reduce paperwork, minimise the risk of losing physical documents and support faster verification through integration with digital immigration systems. Cardholders will also be able to update passport-related information online whenever a new passport is issued.
The Ministry said both initiatives reflect the government’s continued focus on technology-enabled governance, aiming to improve service delivery while strengthening transparency, security and administrative efficiency.
Source: This article is based on an official press release isued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
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