ICRIER – established in August 1981 – is an autonomous, policy-oriented, not-for-profit, economic policy think tank. ICRIER’s main focus is to enhance the knowledge content of policy making by undertaking analytical research that is targeted at improving India’s interface with the global economy. We have nurtured our autonomy by establishing an endowment fund, income from which enables us to pursue our priority research agenda. ICRIER receives other financial support from a number of sources including grants from the Government of India, multilateral international institutions, bilateral agencies and the private sector. 

A medium-term strategy that spells out ICRIER’s vision and focus areas can be found on its website www.icrier.org. ICRIER has its own code of conduct for undertaking research.

To effectively disseminate its research findings, ICRIER organises workshops/ seminars/ conferences to bring together political leaders, policy makers, academicians, industry representatives and media persons to try and generate a more informed understanding on issues of major policy interest. ICRIER invites distinguished scholars and policy makers from around the world to deliver public lectures on economic themes of interest to contemporary India.

ICRIER’s founding Chairman was Dr. K.B. Lall who led the organisation since its inception till 1992 when he handed over the Chairmanship to Mr. R.N. Malhotra (1992-1996). He was followed by Dr. I.G. Patel who remained Chairman from 1997 until his demise in July 2005. Amongst ICRIER’s founding members are Dr. Manmohan Singh, Dr. C. Rangarajan, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, Dr. R. J. Chelliah, Mr. Muchkund Dubey, Prof. Deepak Nayyar etc. ICRIER’s current Chairperson is Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia.

 ICRIER’s highly qualified in-house team of about 50 researchers is led by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University and Ph.D from Lucknow University. The team includes several Ph.Ds from reputed Indian and foreign universities. In addition, we have around 25 external consultants working on specific projects. ICRIER’s office is located in the prime institutional complex of India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.