Grants are forwarded to various organisations and institutions by the Ministry of Education, on the recommendation of Lalit Kala Akademi. In the year of its inception, ten organizations were chosen to forward the grants to. Among them were, All India Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi, Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, Art Society of India, Bombay, Hyderabad Art Society,and  Saurashtra Kala Mandal, Rajkot.  In 1956, apart from according grants to sixteen institutions, token grants were accorded to the Camera Society, Delhi and a special grant to Saurashtra Kala Mandal.

By 1958, as much as Rupees Forty two thousand was being diverted towards the same cause. From that year onwards, the Akademi also began conferring its recognition to various institutions and helping them to successfully establish their purpose.  In 1961, recognition was accorded to Chitra Kala Sangam (New Delhi) and Indian Society of Oriental Art (Calcutta). A total subvention of rupees ninety three thousand was made among twenty-two organisations and institutions and four state akademis. By 1963, the recognition and grants sub-committee came to a decision that recognition would now be given to organisations only after careful scrutiny. Hence, no new akademis were given fresh recognition between 1964 and 1967. A few of the recognised state Akademis and institutions were forwarded subventions as seemed fitting to the decision making body.

In 1968 recognition was accorded to five upcoming organisations from around the country. By 1970, grants were also being forwarded to libraries for obtaining books, to various galleries to host camps, workshops and exhibitions apart from the various societies and the state akademis which featured on the list till then. By 1974, the amount being given away as grants was as much as rupees one lakh fifty thousand. By 1985, research grants were acceded to various upcoming talents enabling them to hone their skills better, artists were being aided in their work through the Artists Aid Fund and the Chairman’s discretionary fund was of assistance to build master exponents and to help visual arts grow.  This was also the time when special courses in Traditional Art were conceived of where young artists could learn from the great masters of the field.

The early 90s saw as many as sixty organisations receiving developmental grants. As many as twenty six research grants were awarded and eleven artists benefitted from the artists aid fund. After the revision of the rules of the Grants-in-Aid in 1997, scholarships were included and eighty students received this scholarship in the year 2000. By 2006, almost rupees ten lakhs was being spent by the grants committee. In 2008, a special scholarship on visual arts was introduced, and the Akademi accepted 65 of the 410 students who had applied for the same.  The Akademi has an entire department devoted to grants and scholarships in an attempt to fulfil its primary objective of nurturing art.