Unlocking Sustainable Domestic Capital through India’s Social Stock Exchange (SSE) for Tuberculosis Initiatives

India bears the world’s highest tuberculosis (TB) burden, accounting for 26% of global cases with an estimated 2.8 million incidence in 2023, even as national case notifications reached a historic high of 2.55 million. While the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP) funds core clinical, diagnostic, and surveillance functions, and partnering non-profits drive community-level implementation, achieving the country's ambitious elimination goal requires addressing major funding gaps in critical social determinants. Specifically, key patient-centered services that directly influence treatment outcomes— such as livelihood restoration, transport assistance, and enhanced nutritional support to combat undernutrition, a mutually reinforcing TB risk factor—remain fragmented and largely excluded from core NTEP budgets.

India's Social Stock Exchange (SSE) offers a new, regulated pathway to close this gap. Established by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and operationalized on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) since 2022, the SSE enables eligible social enterprises, including NPOs, to raise capital from social investors and donors under a transparent disclosure and impact-reporting framework. For NPOs, the primary instrument is the Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) instrument — a regulated donation-like security that carries no interest and no principal repayment, issued for a defined social project with mandatory use-of-proceeds, annual impact reporting, and independent social audit. In May 2026, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs amended Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013 to permit Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)–mandated companies to subscribe to ZCZP instruments on the SSE, subject to a cap of 10% of annual CSR expenditure, further expanding the potential subscriber base.

Despite this enabling framework, TB-focused NPOs face-significant institutional challenges to participating in the SSE. Most of them lack the technical, compliance, and transactional capacity to navigate SSE registration, prepare a Fund-Raising Document (FRD), satisfy social audit requirements, and build an investor subscription pipeline. No dedicated institutional support mechanism currently exists to shepherd a cohort of TB NPOs through the full SSE listing journey. This is the gap that U.S. foreign assistance is uniquely positioned to fill, providing catalytic, time-bound institutional support that unlocks a sustainable domestic financing channel for TB elimination.

indicates a required field.

Section I: Contact Details

Organization name

Organization’s registered address

Applicant type:

Indian nongovernmental organization legally registered with FCRA.

International organization legally registered in India.

For-profit organization with mandatory registrations (PAN, TAN, GST number) and fulfilling all statutory criteria to receive foreign funds.

Foreign Contribution Regulation Act number

Goods and Services Tax number, if applicable.

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, if available (guidance for creating a UEI number to be provided).

Name and title of point of contact for applicant.

Mailing address of point of contact.

Telephone number of point of contact.

Email address of point of contact.

Confirm email

Name and title of authorized signatory for grant.

Section II: Organizational Eligibility

Note your organization’s ability to meet the following:

The chief executive of the organization is willing to sign an agreement and receive funds from JSI, the Washington-based partner.

Yes

Describe your organization’s experience managing interventions aligned with the proposed scope of work or a similar scope of work.

(1,000-character limit)

Detail your organization’s established, active liaison capabilities with the financial market platforms.

(1,000-character limit)

Section III: Proposal Description

Provide your organization’s overall strategy for implementing the activities outlined in the scope of work, taking into account the proposed goal and results you’d like to achieve.

(3,000-character limit)

Describe your approach for identifying and engaging eligible organizations, and supporting selected organizations through the documentation and compliance requirements for Social Stock Exchange (SSE) registration and listing. Explain how you will build the capacities of participating organizations to develop compliant fundraising documents, successfully raise funds for TB initiatives, and ensure that mobilized resources are utilized for their intended purpose.

(3,000-character limit)

Describe your organization's prior experience in supporting organizations with Social Stock Exchange (SSE) registration and listing, including the development of compliant fundraising documents, Social Impact Matrices, and other SSE disclosure requirements. Highlight your experience in ensuring compliance with SEBI and SSE regulations, facilitating social audits, and providing end-to-end technical assistance to enable successful fundraising and post-listing compliance.

(2,000-character limit)

Describe your organization's approach to ensuring the sustainability of project outcomes by building the capacities of participating organizations, documenting processes, and facilitating the adoption of learnings across the broader development sector ecosystem beyond the project period.

(2,000-character limit)

Describe your organization's track record of meeting timelines and the skills and experience of key organizational personnel proposed for this project.

(1,000-character limit)

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Unlocking Sustainable Domestic Capital through India’s Social Stock Exchange (SSE) for Tuberculosis Initiatives (PDF, 911.26 KB)