Against the figure of 8.5 million cited earlier, HIV patients are now tentatively numbered at 3.5 million.
More than 25,000 NGOs and institutions are working in the field of AIDS prevention with an annual budget of Rs 10 lakh and over, according to one estimate.
So funds available with NGOs in India for AIDS prevention is around Rs 2,500 crore annually.
There is no foolproof system to oversee these NGOs.
A legislative committee report in Maharashtra says around 60 per cent of NGOs working for HIV/AIDS prevention in the state are "frauds."
Even if four out of ten NGOs working for HIV/AIDs are frauds, a whopping Rs 1,000 crore is being siphoned off, frittered away or lying unutilised every year.