- National Culture Fund (NCF) was established in 1996 as a trust under the Ministry of Culture.
- NCF’s primary mandate is to establish & nurture Public Private Partnerships in the field of heritage and mobilize resources for the restoration, conservation, protection, and development of India’s rich, natural, tangible, and intangible heritage.
- A large number of projects, both in the form of tangible projects like restoration, conservation of old ASI monuments, provision of Tourist Amenities at the historical sites; and intangible projects like capacity building of artisans, training programs, books publications, cultural events, etc. have been undertaken through the National Culture Fund (NCF) of Ministry of Culture.
- The contributions to NCF are made by the corporate houses to undertake the development of Tangible & Intangible heritage on a project mode basis.
- NCF already has such partnerships with some Corporates like NTPC, ONGC, SAIL, HUDCO, REC, Apeejay Group, etc. who have provided funds for such heritage projects.
- The donations/contributions to NCF are eligible for a 100% tax deduction under Section 80G(2)(iii hh) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 subject to the limits and conditions prescribed in the said Section and relevant Rules.
- Administrative Structure: NCF is managed by a (Governing) Council and an Executive Committee.
- Governing Council: It is chaired by the Union Minister of Culture and has a strength of 21 including 15 non-official members representing various fields including the corporate sector, private foundations, and not-for-profit voluntary organizations.
- Executive Committee: It is chaired by Secretary (Culture) and has a strength of 9 including 4 non-official members from the Council.
National Culture Fund (NCF) Functions
The major objective of NCF is to administer and apply the Fund for-
- Conservation, maintenance, promotion, protection, preservation, and up gradation of monuments protected or otherwise;
- Training and development of a cadre of specialists and cultural administrators,
- Innovations and experiments in arts and
- Documentation of cultural expressions and forms that have lost their relevance in contemporary scenarios and are either fading out or facing extinction.