The Centre has evicted the Ford Foundation from its long-standing premises at 55, Lodhi Estate, where the organisation had maintained its Delhi office since the 1960s, and has allotted the space to two India-led international initiatives, The Indian Express has reported.
The Land and Development Office (L&DO) under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) had initiated eviction proceedings against the foundation in 2025 after its lease for the property expired, officials were reported to have said.
However, officials said no “forceful eviction” was carried out as the Ford Foundation had vacated the premises on its own. According to sources aware of the development, the foundation reportedly moved out in February this year and subsequently changed its office address on its website in March. Its current address is listed as Level 8, DLF Centre, Sansad Marg.
The Ford Foundation did not respond to an email seeking its comment, while its representatives were reportedly unavailable over the phone and during a visit to its Delhi office. The MoHUA also did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, the Directorate of Estates under the MoHUA allotted space on the ground and first floors of the former Ford Foundation office to the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and the Global Biofuels Alliance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the IBCA in 2023 as a multi-country and multi-agency coalition focused on the conservation of big cats. According to its website, the alliance is currently functioning from a house in Shanti Niketan in Delhi.
The Global Biofuels Alliance was also launched by Modi in 2023 during the New Delhi Leaders’ Summit held as part of the G20 Summit. Its office is currently located at Sanrakshan Bhawan in Bhikaji Cama Place, South Delhi.
The Lodhi Estate premises have a long association with the Ford Foundation. The foundation established its New Delhi office in 1952 at the invitation of the Government of India and had been based at the 55, Lodhi Estate complex since the 1960s.
The building housing the Ford Foundation’s former headquarters was designed by American architect Joseph Stein, who also designed prominent post-Independence buildings in Delhi, including the India Habitat Centre and India International Centre. Parts of the wider premises continue to be occupied by the United Nations and its agencies.
The Ford Foundation has said that it worked closely with the Indian government on several development initiatives after Independence, including programmes linked to the Five Year Plans, agriculture and education.
According to information on its website, the foundation initially focused on supporting the establishment of major research, academic and professional management institutions in India. It has said that it provided “foundational grants” to the Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
The foundation has also said that it provided early research support to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and foundational support to the Indian Institute of Public Administration and Punjab Agricultural University.
It has further said that it supported several socio-economic development initiatives, including the Community Development Programme in the 1950s, the Intensive Agricultural Districts Programme, the early stages of the Green Revolution in the 1960s and the self-help group movement.
The foundation currently describes its focus as “inclusive and women-led development”.
Its website’s last available annual report, for 2012, showed that it had provided $13.51 million in grants across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. More recent country-wise grant data was not available in the material cited.
Globally, the foundation’s financial statement for the year ending 31 December 2025, showed that it had approved grants worth $773 million.
The Ford Foundation had also come under scrutiny from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2015. The Gujarat government had alleged that the foundation was funding “anti-India” activities carried out by Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace, organisations associated with activist Teesta Setalvad.
Following the allegations, the MHA placed the foundation in the “prior approval category”, under which funds from the foundation to Indian organisations required prior clearance from the government.
However, in March 2016, ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States, the MHA removed the Ford Foundation from the watchlist.
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