India’s Foreign Aid Policy Shift During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Indian government introduced the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) amendment in 2020 to streamline its foreign aid mechanisms and ensure greater transparency and commitment to the state’s long legacy of refusal to aid principles. However, India has proven to be ineffective in implementing new aid regulations, as reflected by its delayed aid distribution system and the reality that it is even harder for Indian nonprofits to receive foreign aid. India’s aid regime then became the highlight of the international community due to millions of aid given to the state, but the FCRA rules made it almost impossible for actors other than the government to distribute them. The stringent rules of the FCRA raised many questions about whether India had genuinely decided to accept foreign aid. Thus, this study aims to qualitatively explain the foreign aid policy shift enacted by India during the Covid-19 pandemic.