Amid A sharp rise in climate-driven disasters across country, Maharashtra has emerged as the largest recipient of disaster-related grants under the Sixteenth Finance Commission, with an allocation of Rs 39,492 crore spread over the next five financial years. The scale of the grant reflects the state’s high Disaster Risk Index or DRI, a composite measure used by the commission to estimate the potential loss and damage to people, livelihoods and property during calamities ranging from floods and droughts to heatwaves and lightning.
The allocation accounts for nearly 19 per cent of the total disaster response corpus of Rs 2.04 lakh crore recommended for all states between 2026-27 and 2030-31. Of this overall corpus, Rs 1.55 lakh crore will be contributed by the Union government, with the remainder to be borne by states.
What the Disaster Risk Index measures
The Disaster Risk Index is designed to capture how severely a state is likely to be affected when disasters strike. It is calculated as a function of three variables, the hazard posed by different types of disasters, the exposure of populations to these hazards, and the vulnerability of people and assets, assessed largely through per capita income. A higher DRI, therefore, signals a greater risk of loss and damage during extreme events.
Maharashtra’s DRI stands at 182.2, placing it third nationally, after Bihar at 224.2 and Uttar Pradesh, which has the country’s highest DRI score of 413.2. Within Maharashtra’s DRI, the hazard component is estimated at 11.91, exposure at 14, and vulnerability at 1.093, reflecting the scale of population and assets at risk despite relatively higher income levels.
Why Maharashtra received the largest allocation
Even though Uttar Pradesh has a substantially higher DRI, Maharashtra has drawn the highest disaster grant due to the allocation formula adopted by the Sixteenth Finance Commission. The commission weighed 70 per cent of the allocation on a state’s average disaster related expenditure between 2011-12 and 2023-24, excluding the two Covid years, while 30 per cent was linked to the Disaster Risk Index. Maharashtra’s consistently high spending on disaster response and relief over the years, driven by recurrent floods, droughts and urban climate events, played a decisive role in pushing its allocation to the top.
After Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh has been allocated Rs 20,428 crore, followed by Bihar with Rs 18,153 crore, Madhya Pradesh with Rs 15,596 crore, Rajasthan with Rs 12,281 crore and Odisha with Rs 11,866 crore.
How the funds will be distributed in Maharashtra
Of Maharashtra’s total allocation, Rs 31,597 crore, or 80 per cent, will flow into the State Disaster Response Fund, while the remaining Rs 7,895 crore, or 20 per cent, will be credited to the State Disaster Mitigation Fund. The annual allocation is set to increase by five per cent each year, beginning with Rs 7,147 crore in 2026-27 and rising to Rs 8,689 crore by 2030-31. Once released, the SDRF funds can be used flexibly by the state for immediate response and relief during disasters, as well as for recovery and reconstruction.
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Wider definition of disaster risk
The Sixteenth Finance Commission has also significantly expanded the scope of hazards considered while calculating the Disaster Risk Index. While the Fifteenth Finance Commission limited its assessment to four calamities, floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes, the current commission has widened the hazard basket to ten types of disasters, including landslides, hailstorms, cold waves and cloudbursts. Importantly, it has also factored in state specific disasters such as heatwaves and lightning, and has recommended that both be included in the national list of notified disasters under the SDRF framework.
How disaster funds have been spent in the past
In assessing allocations, the commission examined how states utilised disaster funds during the previous finance commission cycle. Data from the National Disaster Management System shows that between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the largest share of disaster-related expenditure across states was directed towards floods, followed by droughts, state-specific disasters such as heatwaves and lightning, and cyclones. In Maharashtra, official data shows that Rs 4,176.80 crore was utilised under the SDRF in 2025 26, while Rs 3,978 crore was released in 2024 25.
Rising climate stress in Maharashtra
The high Disaster Risk Index and corresponding allocation come at a time when extreme weather events are intensifying across Maharashtra, particularly in urban centres. In Mumbai, episodes of high intensity rainfall leading to urban flooding, along with prolonged heatwaves, have emerged as major challenges in recent years. Data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation shows that over the past six years, the average intensity of heavy rainfall increased to 182 mm, compared to 131 mm in the preceding five-year period.
Pointing to escalating heat stress, the Mumbai Climate Action Plan released in 2022 notes a clear warming trend in the city over the past 47 years, from 1973 to 2020. Projections by NOAA and Climate Lab further estimate that by 2040, nearly 60 per cent of days in a year in Mumbai could qualify as high heat days, amplifying risks to public health, infrastructure and livelihoods.
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Together, these trends underline why Maharashtra, despite not having the highest Disaster Risk Index in the country, has emerged as the largest recipient of disaster grants, as the Finance Commission seeks to align historical spending patterns with the growing reality of climate-driven risk.
