Amid a sharp rise in climate-induced disasters across the country, Maharashtra has emerged as the largest recipient of disaster-related grants under the Sixteenth Finance Commissionwith 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 potential loss and damage to people, livelihoods and property during calamities ranging from floods and droughts to heat waves and lightning.
The allocation represents 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, the Union government will contribute Rs 1.55 lakh crore and the rest will be borne by the states.
What the Disaster Risk Index measures
The Disaster Risk Index is designed to capture the severity of a state’s likelihood of being affected when a disaster occurs. It is calculated based on three variables: the danger posed by different types of disasters, the exposure of populations to these dangers, and the vulnerability of people and assets, assessed largely through per capita income. Therefore, a higher DRI indicates a higher 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 the Maharashtra DRI, the hazard component is estimated at 11.91, exposure at 14 and vulnerability at 1.093, reflecting the scale of the population and assets at risk despite relatively higher income levels.
Why Maharashtra received the highest allocation
Although Uttar Pradesh has a substantially higher DRI, Maharashtra has got the highest disaster grant due to the allocation formula adopted by the Sixteenth Finance Commission. The commission weighted 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 weather 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 funds will be distributed in Maharashtra
Of Maharashtra’s total allocation, Rs 31,597 crore, or 80 per cent, will go to 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 projected to increase by five per cent every year, starting with Rs 7,147 crore in 2026-27 and rising to Rs 8,689 crore in 2030-31. Once released, SDRF funds can be used flexibly by the State for immediate disaster response and relief, as well as recovery and reconstruction.
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Against the definition of disaster risk
The Sixteenth Finance Commission has also significantly expanded the scope of hazards considered when 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 expanded the set of hazards to ten types of disasters, including landslides, hailstorms, cold waves and cloudbursts. Importantly, it has also taken into account state-specific disasters such as heat waves and lightning, and has recommended that both be included in the national list of disasters reported under the SDRF.
How disaster funds have been spent in the past
In evaluating allocations, the commission examined how states used disaster funds during the previous finance commission cycle. Data from the National Disaster Management System shows that between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the majority of disaster-related spending across states was on floods, followed by droughts, state-specific disasters such as heat waves and lightning, and cyclones. In Maharashtra, official data shows that Rs 4,176.80 crore was utilized under 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 allocation comes at a time when extreme weather events are intensifying across Maharashtra, particularly in urban centres. In Mumbai, high-intensity rain events leading to urban flooding, along with prolonged heat waves, have emerged as major challenges in recent years. Data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation shows that in the last six years, the average intensity of heavy rainfall has increased to 182 mm, compared to 131 mm in the previous five-year period.
The Mumbai Climate Action Plan released in 2022, which targets an increase in heat stress, points to a clear warming trend in the city over the past 47 years, from 1973 to 2020. NOAA and Climate Lab projections further estimate that by 2040, nearly 60 percent of days in a year in Mumbai could qualify as very hot days, amplifying risks to public health, infrastructure and transportation. life.
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Together, these trends underscore why Maharashtra, despite not having the highest disaster risk index in the country, has become the largest recipient of disaster grants, as the Finance Commission seeks to align historical spending patterns with the growing reality of climate-driven risk.