Infosys Foundation says deregistration from FCRA norms voluntary

Infosys Foundation - the philanthropic and CSR arm of IT giant Infosys - has refuted reports of violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA, leading to the cancellation of its registration. "Infosys Foundation would like to clarify that it has not violated any FCRA norms and was de-registered from FCRA following its request to the Ministry," the company said in a statement.

The company made it clear that the Foundation was registered under the FCRA Act in January 2016. However, in May 2016, the government introduced a retrospective proviso to Section 2 (1) (j)(vi) effective September 2010 in the Finance Bill to exclude certain category of companies/people to be exempt from contributions falling under 'foreign source'.

By the virtue of the said amendment, the Foundation was well outside the purview of the FCRA Act. The company further said that the Foundation applied for its deregistration from FCRA with an additional request to cancel the FCRA registration in June 2016, and received acknowledgement from the FCRA wing in the same month.

Refuting the reports that the company had not made necessary statutory filing, which led to the home ministry cancelling its registration, Infosys clarified that the Foundation had submitted its annual returns for the last three years - FY16, FY17 and FY18 - even though it was outside the purview of the Act and such disclosures were not even required.

The Foundation said it had not received any notice from any ministry to file returns pertaining to FCRA Act after April 2018. Infosys Foundation, established in 1996, is currently headed by Sudha Murthy, the wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. Foundation runs several programs in areas of education, rural development, healthcare, arts and culture and destitute care.

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