International rights groups and foreign aid organisations with deep roots in India say they are struggling to operate under the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has elevated the role of homegrown social groups while cracking down on foreign charities.
Greenpeace India said this month that it was forced to close two of its regional offices and sharply reduce its staff because of the crackdown.
Amnesty International India in December slashed 68 jobs 30 percent of its in-country workforce and cancelled programs after tax authorities raided its headquarters in Bengaluru and froze its accounts.
Since coming to power in 2014, the Modi government has cancelled the licenses of nearly 15,000 charities, preventing them from receiving foreign funds, for alleged offences such as failing to submit timely tax returns.
