Another FCRA account for transfer from designated account
Reviewed by Ravi Sisodia · Last reviewed 29 August 2026
FCRA rules permit opening one or more additional 'FCRA accounts' at any scheduled bank, but only to hold funds transferred from the mandatory designated account.
Finin2min Summary — in 2 Minutes
FCRA rules permit opening one or more additional 'FCRA accounts' at any scheduled bank, but only to hold funds transferred from the mandatory designated account.
Official source and legal ownership
What this covers
Beyond the mandatory designated receipt account at SBI New Delhi Main Branch, an FCRA-registered entity may open one or more additional accounts - commonly called utilisation accounts - at any scheduled bank of its choosing, for the specific purpose of keeping or utilising foreign contribution transferred out of the designated account.
How this differs from the designated account
A utilisation account can never itself be a receipt point for foreign contribution from a donor - funds may only reach it as an internal transfer from the designated account - and it must be reported to the regulator as an FCRA account alongside the designated account, not treated as an ordinary operational bank account outside the FCRA reporting framework.
Why it matters
Because a utilisation account is functionally restricted to receiving only internal transfers from the designated account, an organisation must ensure no other funds - donor payments, refunds, or local receipts - are ever credited to it, and every such account must be disclosed and reconciled as part of the organisation's FCRA reporting, not run as a parallel, unreported account.
Source and review trail
Use the current official instrument, portal or regulator publication before acting. This panel separates the category authority from page-specific references.
- Official starting point
- fcraonline.nic.in