NGO Darpan Search: How to Find and Check an NGO

An NGO Darpan search lets you look up an organisation in the public directory of the NGO Darpan portal and see its basic details. Donors, CSR teams, government offices and other NGOs use it to check a group before they give money or sign a partnership. Darpan Portal Guide is an independent guide, not the official portal. The directory itself lives only on ngodarpan.gov.in, run by NITI Aayog.

What the NGO Darpan list contains

When an NGO signs up on Darpan, it fills in its registration number, registering authority, address, sectors of work, office bearers and contact person. After verification, the portal gives it a Unique ID. A short public version of this record goes into the directory. NITI Aayog has said that over one lakh organisations have taken a Unique ID, so the Darpan NGO list is the largest public list of registered NGO in India that the government keeps.

The state wise directory pages show columns such as:

Click a name to open the fuller NGO details, which may show office bearers' names and designations, key contact, and any grants entered by the NGO. The exact fields can change as the portal is upgraded.

How to do an NGO Darpan search by name, state, sector or ID

The directory has two main doors: state wise lists and sector wise lists. Where a search box is offered, you can also type part of the name or the Unique ID. Labels on the screen may differ a little from what we describe here.

• NGO Darpan search by name: for an NGO name search, type a short, distinctive part of the name. Skip words like "Trust", "Society" or "Foundation", as many names share them. Try both Hindi and English spellings if you do not find a match.
• NGO Darpan search by Unique ID: the Darpan ID starts with the state code, then the year, then a running number, separated by slashes. Type it exactly as printed on the Darpan certificate. Use our Darpan ID page to read what each part means.
• NGO Darpan state wise list: pick the state, then scroll or move page by page. Lists for big states are long, so combine state with sector.
• Sector wise: choose a sector to see all NGOs that marked it. One NGO can appear under many sectors.

A Darpan ID search is the most reliable, because many NGOs have similar names. Ask the NGO for its ID first, then search.

District wise lists and the NGO Darpan list PDF

People often ask for an NGO Darpan list PDF or a district wise list. We could not confirm any official downloadable PDF of all NGOs from the portal. Files sold or shared on other websites are copies made at some past date. They may include NGOs whose IDs were later deactivated, and they miss new ones. For any decision, check the live record on ngodarpan.gov.in on the day you decide. To find NGOs in one district, use the state list and look at the city and address column.

Reading an NGO profile on Darpan

Look at these points, in this order:

1. Name and Unique ID: they should match the letterhead and the Darpan certificate the NGO gave you.
2. Registration number and authority: match these with the trust deed, society certificate or company incorporation certificate. Our NGO registration page explains which authority issues which paper.
3. Office bearers: the same people should sign the MoU or receipts you will get. If the board has changed, the NGO should update Darpan.
4. Sectors and address: do they fit the work the NGO is asking you to fund?

A Darpan record is self-declared data that NITI Aayog verifies at sign up, but it is not a rating. It does not show audit quality or how well projects run.

NGO registration check before donating or partnering

Darpan is only one layer. A full NGO registration check covers four records. Each sits with a different authority:

For a charitable trust registration check, ask for the registered trust deed and verify with the sub-registrar or the state charity office where the deed was registered. Many states have online search for this, but the method varies by state. Learn what 12A and 80G mean on our 12A and 80G guide, and the foreign funds rules on our FCRA registration page. CSR teams can also read CSR-1 registration, because companies need the CSR-1 number of an implementing NGO.

When an NGO does not show in the search

If you cannot find an NGO, it may be one of these cases:

• It never signed up, or its profile is incomplete, so no Unique ID was made.
• The name was typed differently. Search by ID instead.
• The ID was deactivated. An official Ministry of Culture notice speaks of IDs that were deactivated or did not show the NGO name, and asked those NGOs to fix it before grants were released.
• The portal is slow or under upgrade. Try again later.

If it is your own NGO that is missing, log in and check the profile. Our NGO Darpan login and Darpan problems pages show what to do next.