The Narendra Modi government is set to remove Ford Foundation from the "prior permission" category under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, which requires each of its donations to Indian NGOs to be pre-approved by the home ministry. This comes after the international donor's Indian arm got itself registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, last month, thus bringing it within the purview of an Indian law.

Ford Foundation was placed on the 'prior permission' list in April last year after the home ministry reportedly found that it was funding non-FCRA registered and profit-making NGOs. Both the acts are illegal under FCRA.