India sits at the heart of this call. As the world’s most populous country and one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, India’s total funding grew at a 13% CAGR between FY20 and FY25 to roughly INR 27 lakh crore (USD 310 billion) and is projected to reach INR 50 lakh crore (USD 570 billion) by FY30, yet a USD 180 billion remains between current spending and need. As a priority market, India’s integrated capital ecosystem is increasingly driving scalable social investment solutions throughout Asia.
Entering its 15th year of moving capital towards Impact for Asia, this evolution affirms AVPN’s role as an Asia-led platform that builds an impact ecosystem rooted in on-ground realities, drives a more prosperous and inclusive Asia, and strengthens the region’s influence on global impact action.
“Asia can no longer be a passive participant in global impact conversations,” said Achal Agarwal, Chair, AVPN. “This USD 26‑trillion gap is not just a financing shortfall; it is an opportunity for Asia to design its own playbook and lead with frameworks grounded in our realities, while shaping global approaches for a more equitable, inclusive and prosperous future.”
Asia’s impact landscape is entering a phase of greater complexity and urgency, with capital pools growing, but deployment remaining fragmented across markets, sectors and stakeholder priorities. Official Development Assistance (ODA) fell by 23.1% in 2025 with a further decline projected for 2026, even as needs continue to rise. Global frameworks, while useful, often fail to capture Asia’s diversity, complexity and context. Within the region’s broader financing need, it also faces a USD 1.5 trillion annual SDG financing gap, underscoring the need for more coordinated capital.
Meeting India’s SDG commitments requires an estimated 6% of GDP annually, while climate ambitions imply over USD 22 trillion in cumulative financing through 2070. In 2025, USD 5.29 billion in equity capital was deployed across 256 impact-driven enterprises, reflecting steady sectoral growth. India now has over 300 family offices managing more than USD 30 billion in assets, alongside expanding high-net-worth wealth creation. CSR continues to channel billions annually into social priorities. These capital pools are growing in scale and sophistication but require stronger systems for coordinated deployment.
Building on this, AVPN’s strategic evolution introduces its community model, previously known as membership tiers, redesigned for impact at scale. This is to expand its engagement with the impact ecosystem, such that coordination and collaboration can be multiplied.
The Vantage and Discovery pathways are designed to balance breadth with depth.
● Vantage: A paid, relationship-led experience designed for organisations seeking deeper strategic engagement, dedicated support, curated connections, and leadership opportunities.
● Discovery: A flexible engagement pathway that enables organisations to access the AVPN ecosystem and engage through a combination of complimentary and pay-per-use opportunities.
AVPN’s product portfolio remains focused around four thematic priorities – Climate Action, Health Impact, Gender Equality and Economic Inclusion, which will be activated through dynamic cross‑cutting levers such as AI, policy, impact investing and faith‑based giving. These impact levers ensure AVPN and its impact ecosystem continually unlock new forms of capital and innovation to meet the rising needs of the region.
The new strategy reinforces AVPN’s mission of translating intent into impact by bringing together people, ideas and resources for Asia, and its vision of a thriving impact ecosystem that drives a prosperous and inclusive Asia. AVPN delivers this strategy through flagship convenings such as the AVPN Global Conference and summits, pooled funds, policy dialogues and thematic‑specific initiatives, AVPN will amplify community voices, connect unlikely allies and catalyse coalitions that can drive systems‑level change. Current initiatives include partnerships with Indonesia on health impact, with India on energy transition, collaborations with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council on corporate CSR, and work with ASEAN Ministries of Education on economic inclusion enabled by AI and technology.
“When Asia leads with its own frameworks, informed by local realities and grounded in trust, partnership and mutuality, we can turn challenges into opportunities for generations to come. Asia’s leaders must now step up. There is no time to waste. We should not be participants in our own region; we need to be architects of our Asia-led blueprint for impact. And, AVPN’s role as a trusted impact ecosystem is to provide the connective tissue that allows capital to move with confidence across borders, sectors and instruments, so that ambition becomes action,” added Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO, AVPN.
This August, AVPN brings the Global Conference to India for the first time in its thirteen-year history, convening more than 2,000 delegates at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 25 to 27 August. The decision to host in India signals AVPN's intent to anchor the region's impact agenda where the financing challenge is most acute and where the solutions developed carry the broadest relevance for Asia.
Solving Asia's social and environmental challenges demands the full continuum of capital, where grants, debt, and equity are intentionally aligned to move solutions from innovation to scale. Asia needs more than just diverse forms of capital but also shared accountability among partners that reduces perceived risk and enables actors across sectors to converge around collective outcomes. With over 700 organisations across 43 markets, and a 15-year track record of building Asia’s impact ecosystem, AVPN is committed to meet this challenge with clarity and purpose for the hundreds of millions of people whose futures depend on the region getting this right.
About AVPN
AVPN is Asia’s largest platform for social impact, where over 700 resource providers, innovators and intermediaries from across 43 markets collaborate to mobilise capital. Grounded in deep regional expertise and partnerships, AVPN is building a thriving ecosystem that accelerates measurable progress toward inclusive growth, empowering Asia to lead the way in global impact. AVPN’s mission is to translate intent into impact by bringing together people, ideas, and resources for Asia. We do this by strengthening partnerships, fostering open collaboration, and enabling the coordinated flow of resources across markets and borders. Together with our community, AVPN is building a thriving impact ecosystem that drives a prosperous and inclusive Asia.
For more information about AVPN and our work, please visit our website and read our latest Annual Review.
For media queries, please contact:
The Mavericks India
Priyadarshini Singh | priyadarshini@themavericksindia.com / avpn@themavericksindia.com |
+91 88021 45276
AVPN
Mehar Kakkar
mehar.kakkar@avpn.asia
