At a glance
| Run by | Who can sign up | Government fee | Minimum office bearers | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NITI Aayog, with the National Informatics Centre | Registered trust, society or private limited non-profit company | No government fee | At least three, with designations | A Unique ID for the organisation |
What NGO Darpan is
NGO Darpan is a platform where non-profit organisations register themselves to obtain a Unique Identity Number. NITI Aayog runs it, with technical support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the National Informatics Centre.
The portal describes itself as a free facility offered by NITI Aayog in association with the National Informatics Centre. There is no government fee to sign up and no renewal fee.
The Unique ID identifies your organisation across government systems. NITI Aayog is clear that the ID rests on self-declared information and does not mean the organisation is endorsed or recommended by NITI Aayog or the National Informatics Centre.
Is a Darpan ID compulsory?
It depends on what you are applying for. The portal states that the number is mandatory for all NPOs who are seeking grants from the Ministries or Departments of the Government of India.
So there is no general law that forces every NGO to have one. If you never apply for a central government grant, nothing happens if you do not sign up.
In practice, most NGOs get it early anyway. Grant windows are short, ministry portals ask for the ID at the application stage, and CSR donors and institutional funders often ask for it as part of their own due diligence. It costs nothing to hold.
Who can register
Any voluntary organisation or NGO registered as a trust, a society or a private limited non-profit company can sign up. That covers the three routes we set up for clients:
| Entity | Registered under | Eligible on Darpan |
|---|---|---|
| Public charitable trust | Indian Trusts Act, 1882 or the relevant state public trusts Act, with the deed registered | Yes |
| Society | Societies Registration Act, 1860 or the corresponding state Act | Yes |
| Section 8 company | Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 | Yes |
If you have not registered the entity yet, start there. Our NGO registration page sets out the choice between a trust, a society and a Section 8 company, and a society registration page covers the 1860 Act route in detail.
Who cannot
Individuals cannot register. The portal states that no individual registration is allowed. An unregistered group, an informal collective or a person running charitable work in their own name has no route to a Darpan ID until the entity itself is registered.
What the portal asks for
Keep everything ready before you start, because the sign-up asks for organisation and office bearer details together.
Organisation details
- Name of the organisation exactly as it appears on the registration certificate
- Type of registration (trust, society or Section 8 company), the registration number and the date of registration
- The registering authority and the state
- PAN of the organisation. The portal states that the Government has decided to make the PAN number of VOs and NGOs mandatory
- Registered address, city, district, state and PIN code
- Contact details: mobile number and email address that you will keep active, because the portal uses them for verification
- Sectors the organisation works in, and the states and districts where it operates
- Details of the organisation's activities and its sources of funds, in the fields the portal provides
Office bearers
The portal requires you to update or upload at least three office bearers with their designations. Keep the following for each of them:
- Full name and designation as recorded in the entity's records
- PAN
- Aadhaar. The portal publishes separate lists of organisations whose members' PAN and Aadhaar are verified, so treat both as needed for every office bearer
- Mobile number and email address
Get the designations right. They must match the trust deed, the memorandum and rules of the society, or the register of directors of the Section 8 company. A mismatch is the most common reason a Darpan record has to be corrected later.
How the registration works
We run it in four steps and send you the ID and the acknowledgement at the end.
- Document check. We read your registration certificate, deed or memorandum, PAN and the list of office bearers, and confirm the entity type and the designations that will go on the portal.
- Sign-up and verification. We create the account with the organisation's mobile number and email, complete the verification and open the application.
- Details and office bearers. We fill the organisation, sector and area-of-operation fields and enter the office bearer details with PAN and Aadhaar, so the record matches your constitution documents.
- Unique ID. We submit the application and hand over the Unique ID with the portal acknowledgement, plus a note of what needs updating and when.
The portal does not publish a processing time, so we do not promise one. We tell you what is pending and what is with the department.
What a Darpan ID does not do
This is where most readers are misled, so it is worth being blunt.
- It is not a tax registration. Income-tax registration and approval for a non-profit come from the Income-tax Department under sections 332 and 354 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, on Forms 104 and 105. See 12A and 80G registration.
- It does not let a donor claim a deduction. That needs the approval under section 354 and the donation statement we file afterwards. See Form 10BD.
- It is not a licence to receive foreign contribution. That is FCRA registration with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- It is not the CSR filing. A company can only route CSR funds to an implementing agency that has filed CSR-1 with the MCA.
- It is not an endorsement. NITI Aayog states the ID is based on self-declared information and does not imply that the organisation is recommended.
Darpan, 12A, 80G, CSR-1 and FCRA side by side
Four different departments, four different purposes. Most NGOs end up needing all of them, in this order.
| Registration | Department | What it gives you | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darpan Unique ID | NITI Aayog | An identity number, mandatory for NPOs seeking grants from central Ministries or Departments | No government fee |
| Registration under section 332 (the old 12A) | Income-tax Department | Exemption for the organisation's own income, subject to the conditions in the Act | No government fee |
| Approval under section 354 (the old 80G) | Income-tax Department | The deduction your donor claims. See 80G registration | No government fee |
| CSR-1 | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | Eligibility to be an implementing agency for company CSR spending | No MCA filing fee |
| FCRA registration or prior permission | Ministry of Home Affairs | The right to receive foreign contribution | Fee payable, see the FCRA page |
We have not found any provision that makes the Darpan ID a legal condition for 12A, 80G or CSR-1. Some funders and portals ask for it alongside those registrations, which is a practical requirement, not a statutory one.
Keeping the record current
Treat the Darpan record as a live register, not a one-time filing.
- When an office bearer joins or leaves, update the portal so the record matches your current board, committee or trustees.
- When the registered address, contact number or email changes, update it, because verification messages go to the registered mobile and email.
- When you apply for a grant, check the record first. A ministry portal reads the Darpan data as it stands on the day you apply.
We can hold this as part of an annual NGO compliance engagement along with your income-tax return, audit report and, where it applies, the annual FCRA return. See our accounting services, and track the dates on the compliance calendar.
Fees
Our professional fee for the Darpan application is on quote after a free review, because the work depends on whether your registration documents and office bearer records are in order. There is no government fee.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Regikart professional fee: NGO Darpan sign-up and Unique ID | Fee on quote after a free review |
| Government fee (NITI Aayog) | No government fee. The portal describes Darpan as a free facility |
| Related work, quoted separately | 12A and 80G registration, CSR-1 at ₹3,499, FCRA registration |
Professional fees exclude GST at 18%. Government fees, where they apply, are paid at actuals to the department and are shown separately. Fees verified on 27 September 2026.
Where Darpan applications get stuck
These are the problems we fix most often, both on fresh applications and on records created years ago.
- Fewer than three office bearers entered. The portal needs at least three with their designations.
- Designations that do not match the deed or memorandum. "Founder" on the portal and "Managing Trustee" in the deed will be questioned by a grant reviewer.
- PAN of the organisation missing or mismatched. The name on PAN must read the same as the registration certificate.
- Office bearer PAN or Aadhaar details not verified, so the organisation never appears in the portal's verified lists.
- A mobile number or email that nobody monitors, usually a former volunteer's, which blocks every later update.
- A stale board. Trustees or directors who left years ago are still on the record.
- Assuming the ID brings tax benefits, and skipping the income-tax registration and approval that actually matter.
Why NGOs use Regikart
Darpan is a small filing that sits inside a larger compliance picture, and the picture is what we are set up for.
- Reviewed by a Company Secretary who reads the deed, memorandum or articles before anything goes on the portal.
- One team for the whole NGO stack: NGO registration, Section 8 company and trust formation, income-tax registration and approval, CSR-1, FCRA and the annual filings.
- Records that agree with each other, so the Darpan data, the MCA or Registrar record and the income-tax profile all name the same people.
- 250+ clients served from Kolkata, Delhi and Bengaluru.