Important Notice: Charitable Payments to India

Applies to: Outbound international wire transfers to India coded as charitable donations Effective: Current — ongoing Last reviewed: March 2026

What is changing

Charitable donation payments destined for India and converted to Indian Rupees (INR) are currently being rejected by Indian banking infrastructure. This affects payments where the transaction purpose is identified as a charitable contribution, gift to a nonprofit, or donation to a religious or charitable institution.

Payments sent in USD (not converted to INR) may still be processed depending on which payment processor handles your institution's international transfers. This is not universal -- some processors have blocked charitable transfers in all currencies. See the processor positions section below for specifics.

Why this is happening

India requires all foreign charitable contributions to flow through a specific designated account at State Bank of India's New Delhi Main Branch before reaching the intended recipient. This requirement was established under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act of 2020 (Ministry of Home Affairs) and has been actively enforced since mid-2023.

In addition, the Reserve Bank of India requires that all inbound international transfers carry a transaction purpose code under FEMA. Payments coded as charitable donations now trigger enhanced compliance verification. If the receiving organization does not hold a current, valid FCRA registration, or if the payment is not routed to the designated SBI account, the transfer will be returned.

As a result of these requirements, many Indian financial institutions and correspondent banks have stopped processing INR-denominated charitable transfers entirely rather than conduct case-by-case compliance reviews.

What this means for your transfer

If you are attempting to send a charitable donation to an organization in India, your payment may be returned regardless of whether the receiving organization is legitimate or well-established.

Before initiating a charitable transfer to India, confirm the following with the recipient organization:

• They hold a current, valid FCRA registration issued by India's Ministry of Home Affairs — registration status can be verified at the FCRA Online portal

• They have a designated FCRA account at State Bank of India, New Delhi Main Branch (11 Sansad Marg, New Delhi)

• They are able to accept foreign contributions at this time

If the receiving organization cannot confirm all three, the payment is unlikely to clear.

What to do if your payment was returned

If a charitable payment to India has been returned, contact PayRecs Payment Support. Returned funds will be credited back to your account. The PayRecs support team can help you confirm the purpose code and routing details associated with your original transfer and advise on whether re-submission is viable.

If the recipient organization believes their FCRA registration is current and they have the required SBI account, they should contact their Indian bank to verify the routing path before any re-submission is attempted.

Personal remittances are not affected

This notice applies specifically to payments classified as charitable donations. Personal remittances to family members in India, business payments, and other transfer types are not affected by this restriction.

Questions

Contact PayRecs Payment Support for assistance with India charitable transfer questions, payment returns, or routing guidance.

Payment processor positions

PayRecs routes international payments through multiple processing partners. Below is the current confirmed position of each relevant processor on India charitable transfers.

Corpay Corpay will not process INR-denominated charitable payments. Per Corpay's confirmed position, INR charitable transfers will be rejected and Corpay has proactively blocked this payment type to prevent returns. USD charitable transfers to India are currently being processed by Corpay, though this is subject to change as regulatory enforcement evolves.

Currency Cloud (Visa) Currency Cloud has confirmed that charitable and donation-related payment activity is not supported at this time. This applies to all charitable transfers regardless of currency, including payments to specific organizations previously discussed with PayRecs. Currency Cloud has indicated they will communicate any changes as the regulatory environment evolves.

Other processors PayRecs will update this notice as confirmed positions are received from additional processing partners. The general pattern across the industry is consistent: INR charitable purpose codes are being blocked at the correspondent banking layer, while USD routing may remain available depending on the processor and the recipient organization's configuration.

This notice is provided for informational purposes and reflects processor and regulatory positions as of March 2026. PayRecs is a software platform and is not itself a payment processor or financial institution. The ability to process any specific payment type is determined by our underlying payment processors and is subject to change without advance notice as the regulatory environment in India continues to evolve. PayRecs will update this bulletin as new processor confirmations are received or as the situation changes. For the most current FCRA rules and registration requirements, refer to the Ministry of Home Affairs FCRA division. Neither PayRecs nor your financial institution is responsible for returns resulting from a recipient organization's registration status, banking configuration, or changes in processor policy.