Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

What Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation does

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) is an autonomous non-profit society established by the Government of India on December 10, 2013 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development. It operates as an institutional intermediary between state and central governments and grassroots civil society organizations (CSOs) to scale up civil society action and improve the implementation of government welfare schemes in India's Central Indian Tribal Belt. The foundation targets tribal/Adivasi communities and women in marginalized rural households across 10 states (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, with Mizoram added in 2025), with approximately 80% of outreach directed at women beneficiaries.

BRLF's core operational model is partnership-based rather than product-based. The foundation selects, funds, and builds capacity for 57 CSO partners — including BAIF Development Research Foundation, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India (AKRSP-I), SRIJAN, PRADAN, and Foundation for Ecological Security — who implement livelihood projects across watershed management, agricultural production clusters, livestock development, forest rights, and women-led self-help group formation. Formal MoUs with state governments structure large-scale programs such as Usharmukti in West Bengal, Agriculture Production Clusters in Odisha, and the High-Impact Mega Watershed Projects in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Technology platforms include the BRLF Management Information System (mis.brlf.in) for internal operations and CSO coordination, the Learn with BRLF e-learning platform offering a 9-chapter Watershed Management Course with certification (supported by Hindustan Unilever Foundation), the Prabodhan online course for NGO financial management, and the annual Samanvay summit platform.

BRLF's revenue model rests on three streams: government grants (initial corpus of INR 500 Crore from GoI via MoRD MoU, plus ongoing support from Ministry of Tribal Affairs), corporate CSR funding (Axis Bank Foundation, Tata Trusts, Hindustan Unilever Foundation, Utkal Alumina), and philanthropic donations (Ford Foundation, European Union, Arghyam). The foundation disburses grants to CSO partners — INR 127.87 Crore committed by March 2022 — while CSO partners have leveraged an additional INR 3,410.87 Crore from government schemes and raised INR 367.20 Crore in co-finance. Operations span five offices: New Delhi headquarters plus State Project Management Units in Ranchi (Jharkhand), Bodoland Territorial Region (Assam), Nagpur (Maharashtra), and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), staffed by 11-50 employees.

Name

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

Legal name

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

Website

https://brlf.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) is a Government of India-established non-profit that bridges civil society organizations and state governments to scale rural and tribal livelihood programs across 10 states in India's Central Indian Tribal Belt.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Rural Development Foundation Services

NAICS

Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (925120), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Affordable Housing & Community Development (Housing, Community Land Trusts) (BPAGALAC)

Keywords

• Rural development programs
• Tribal livelihood support
• Watershed management training
• Civil society partnerships
• Capacity building programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New Delhi

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Grants: BRLF was established by the Government of India with an initial corpus of ₹500 Crore allocated through MoU with Ministry of Rural Development. The foundation receives ongoing funding support from various government ministries including Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
2. Corporate CSR Funding: Corporate partners contribute CSR funds to BRLF's livelihood programs. Partners include Axis Bank Foundation, Tata Trusts, Hindustan Unilever Foundation, and other corporations. BRLF's CSO partners have leveraged co-finance totaling INR 367.20 Crore from multiple donors.
3. Donations: Individual donations support BRLF's work with marginalized communities. Donations can be directed to specific purposes such as scholarships for MA-Rural Management students or general rural livelihoods work.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BRLF is an autonomous society established by the Government of India that partners with state governments and community-based organisations to scale up civil society action and improve implementation of government schemes for rural and tribal communities in India's Central Indian Tribal Belt. It provides grants, capacity building, knowledge resources, and convening platforms to CSOs working on rural livelihoods, and is recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Product overview

Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) operates primarily as a non-profit development organization rather than a technology product company. Its core offerings consist of digital platforms for capacity building and knowledge dissemination, including the 'Learn with BRLF' e-learning platform offering the Watershed Management Course with animated video content and certification. The organization also runs the annual Samanvay summit platform and the Prabodhan financial management training course for NGOs. These digital offerings are complemented by large-scale rural livelihood programs including watershed projects, agricultural production clusters, and tribal development initiatives implemented through government-CSO partnerships across 10 states in Central India.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Samanvay: BRLF's annual event - a collective space for reflective multi-stakeholder dialogue focused on critical issues and opportunities in India's rural development landscape, celebrating tribal knowledge, culture, and practices.
• Learn with BRLF
• Certificate Program in Rural Livelihoods (CPRL)
• Grant in Aid

Products and services

• Learn with BRLF (E-Learning Platform)

Quantifiable outcome

• 7.05 lakh households reached across 9,974 villages by March 2021
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Axis Bank FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2025Partnership to advance sustainable and inclusive tribal development, combining BRLF's implementation capability with Axis Bank Foundation's resources.
• Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) - Aditya Birla GroupsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 September 2020UANAT Project aiming to double income of 15,000 small and marginal farmers in Kashipur and Th. Rampur blocks of Odisha through integrated livelihood development.
• Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MoTA designated BRLF as Center of Excellence and entrusted it with screening CSO partners for its Grant-in-aid program and conducting evaluation studies. BRLF screened 104 out of 118 CSO proposals for FY 2019-20.
• Government of West BengalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018MoU for Usharmukti Project - watershed development program implemented through MGNREGA. Also partnered for Jharnadhara springshed rejuvenation project in Himalayan districts.
• Government of OdishacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018MoU for Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) Project covering 40 blocks in 12 tribal-dominated districts. Also partnered for Green College Odisha initiative.
• Government of ChhattisgarhcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Four-year MoU for High-Impact Mega Watershed Project implemented through state government departments.
• IIHMR University, JaipursupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Partnership for MBA in Rural Management program to provide financial support to tribal students from Central Indian Tribal Belt for two-year rural management studies.
• Government of JharkhandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Formal MoU for institutionalizing review and reporting mechanisms. Also partnered for Jiwi Daah Hasa watershed project in 24 blocks of 7 districts.
• ACWADAMsupportingTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2017Technical partner for participatory groundwater management implementation.
• SEEDSsupportingTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2017Supported sustainable Non-Pesticide Management agriculture in Tamil Nadu with market linkages through FPOs.
• Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 January 2014BRLF signed MoU with Ministry of Rural Development to facilitate and upscale civil society action in partnership with the government. The Government of India allocated ₹500 Crore to create BRLF's corpus in two tranches. MoRD is BRLF's parent ministry and primary government partner.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action): One of India's largest grassroots rural livelihoods NGOs operating across tribal districts, working through SHG formation, agriculture, and NRM. BRLF itself partners with PRADAN as a CSO grantee, making it a direct peer in the same tribal/rural livelihood ecosystem with comparable programmatic models.
• BAIF Development Research Foundation: Multi-state CSO focused on livestock, agriculture, and watershed development in tribal and rural India. BRLF partners with BAIF under the Adivasi Livelihood Project, and both organizations operate convergent models combining livelihoods, livestock, and natural resource management in the Central Indian Tribal Belt.
• Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India (AKRSP-I): AKRSP-I is a tribal livelihoods-focused CSO operating in several Central Indian states, including being a key BRLF partner. Both organizations work on watershed, agriculture, and women's collectives, with comparable geographic focus and CSO-implementation model.
• Foundation for Ecological Security (FES): FES operates across rural India on land and water resource conservation, commons governance, and tribal livelihoods. As a BRLF CSO partner, FES shares the same community-NRM-government bridge model and serves a comparable beneficiary base.
• Self-Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action (SRIJAN): SRIJAN is a tribal livelihoods CSO and a long-standing BRLF grantee partner implementing large-scale rural transformation programs. Both entities share the same livelihood-promotion, SHG-formation, and producer-group approach in Central Indian tribal districts.
• S M Sehgal Foundation: Rural development NGO implementing water management, agriculture, and women's empowerment programs across multiple Indian states. Shares BRLF's focus on rural livelihoods, community-led development, and CSR-funded program execution.

Broad incumbents

• NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development): India's apex rural development financial institution that funds SHGs, FPOs, watershed projects, and tribal welfare programs nationwide. NABARD is a broader incumbent in the same rural livelihood financing ecosystem in which BRLF operates as a civil society bridge.
• Tata Trusts: One of India's largest philanthropic foundations, with a major tribal and rural livelihoods portfolio (including CILI). Both Tata Trusts and BRLF support tribal communities through grants to CSOs in the Central Indian Tribal Belt, making them peers in funding model and outreach.
• National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM / Aajeevika): DAY-NRLM is the Government of India's flagship poverty alleviation program under the Ministry of Rural Development that BRLF was specifically designed to complement. Both work on SHG mobilization, federations, and livelihood diversification, and BRLF's mandate is essentially to strengthen NRLM through civil society partnerships.

Others

• Ford Foundation India: International philanthropic foundation that is itself a BRLF corpus donor and operates in adjacent social-sector grantmaking in India. Comparable as a peer funder of civil society action in the rural and tribal development space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BRLF_India
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@BRLF_India
• Facebookfacebook.com/BRLF.India
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brlf-india
• Instagraminstagram.com/brlf_india

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation