India hosts nearly 70 percent of the world's wild tiger population, confirmed by the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation. The count stood at 3,682 tigers across 53 Tiger Reserves covering approximately 75,000 sq km under Project Tiger, launched in 1973. India achieved its 2022 doubling target four years early. Conservation integrates camera-trap technology, genetic sampling, and community participation through eco-development committees, making India's model a global benchmark endorsed by IUCN and Global Tiger Forum.

India's tiger conservation success is not accidental — it is the product of a fifty-year policy architecture built on three pillars: legal protection, habitat management, and science-based monitoring. Project Tiger (1973) created the institutional backbone, while the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) gave it teeth. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), constituted under the 2006 amendment to WPA, added statutory oversight and financial accountability.

The 2022 tiger census — conducted using occupancy modelling, camera traps, and DNA analysis across 20 states — is the world's largest camera-trap wildlife survey. The 3,682 figure represents a quadrupling since 1973's estimated 1,827 tigers.

What makes India's model globally replicable is community integration. Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) around buffer zones convert forest-edge communities from poaching threats into conservation partners through livelihood support. Voluntary village relocation from core zones — with compensation packages — has reduced human-wildlife conflict. States like Madhya Pradesh (785 tigers), Karnataka (563), and Uttarakhand (560) demonstrate that high agricultural pressure and high tiger density can coexist with policy design.

For NABARD, the model intersects with watershed development, CAMPA funds, and Joint Forest Management — all financing instruments that NABARD either channels or co-ordinates. Tiger corridor financing increasingly involves NABARD's rural infrastructure lending.