Despite nearly 10% of India’s registered non-profits working in disability, the sector receives only an estimated 1% of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding, a recent study has shown.  

Released by Bengaluru-based law firm and think tank Pacta and disability inclusion enabler Able Foundation, the report titled  ‘The Landscape of Funding for Disability in India’, finds that India’s disability sector is caught in a “low-funding equilibrium”, where low government prioritisation, weak philanthropic investment, and limited non-profit capacity continue to constrain sector growth and impact. 

Govt. allocation low

According to the report, the combined Union and State allocations for disability also remain critically low at approximately 0.04% of GDP. This accentuates the problem, given how funders hesitate in the absence of a stronger State commitment and low public investment in the sector.

Disability interventions were often found to cost two to three times more per beneficiary than comparable social sector programmes, which could be another reason for low interest.

The study surveyed 52 disability-focused non-profit organisations across India.

“For years, disability has remained visible in policy language but invisible in funding flows. This report is an attempt to show that underfunding is not incidental, it is structural,” said Nivedita Krishna, founder of Pacta.

The report outlines ten pathways to strengthen disability funding ecosystems in India, including mainstreaming disability across education and livelihoods portfolios, expanding trust-based and multi-year funding models, strengthening matchmaking infrastructure between funders and disability organisations, and enforcing the RPwD Act’s mandate for 5% reservation across government development schemes.

“The disability sector does not lack committed organisations. What it lacks is the connective tissue trust, visibility, networks, and long-term capital that allows good work to grow sustainably,” said Sudhir Shenoy, founder of Able Together.