FCRA hinders educational collaboration with US: US-India task force

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India finalises it foreign varsity regulations, a US-India task force report has identified foreign exchange restrictions in India and tight US visa rules as key barriers to greater educational and research collaboration between the two countries. «Compliance with India's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) has been...(a) major impediment for US universities attempting to work in India,» said the interim task force report on expanding US-India partnerships prepared by Association of American Universities (AAU).

«Similar difficulties associated with regulations on outbound remittances have made it difficult for grantees conducting collaborative research to send funds outside of India to support work in the United States.» The draft University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023 — that will set the rules for establishing of a foreign university campus in India — have proposed that the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999 will determine the entire gamut of foreign funding and repatriation of funds involved, namely, foreign currency accounts, mode of payments, remittance, repatriation, and sale of proceeds. All the above areas have earlier proved to be a dampener with foreign educational entities and the same has been duly noted in the AAU interim report, which also found a mention in the June 22 US-India Joint Statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington.

ET gathers that some foreign stakeholders have raised concerns with the Indian government over the «restrictive» nature of the FEMA regime proposed by the UGC in the draft regulations. Government insiders maintain that all inputs are being