Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)/Voluntary Organisations (VOs) are registered as societies or charitable trusts or not-for-profit companies under Central or State laws. Financial assistance may be provided to some of these entities under various schemes/programmes/projects administered by different Ministries/Departments. These entities are required to file their statutory returns as per procedure prescribed under the relevant laws. Information regarding the number of all such registered entities or financial assistance provided to them is not centrally maintained.

 Ministry of Corporate Affairs has not issued any direction to companies regarding contribution of funds to NGOs /VOs or societies set up with the objective of social welfare.

 This was stated by Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

NGO funding guidance: no central registry and no corporate regulator direction on company contributions to NGOs. There is no centrally maintained record of registered NGOs/VOs or funds provided to them; such entities are registered as societies, charitable trusts, or not-for-profit companies and must file statutory returns under applicable law. The corporate regulator has not issued any direction to companies about contributions to NGOs/VOs or social welfare societies, leaving corporate contribution practices governed by existing registration and scheme-specific administrative frameworks.