List of think tanks in India

Last updated May 13, 2024

The following is a list of notable Indian think tanks

India has the second-largest number of think tanks in the world, with the country's total hitting 509 in 2018 behind 1871 in the United States of America and ahead of the People's Republic of China (507), the United Kingdom (321), and Argentina (227).^[1] Many of these are headquartered at its capital New Delhi and range from government aided organisations to privately funded ones.^[2]

Several Indian think tanks usually feature in the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index produced by the Lauder Institute of University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, the "Observer Research Foundation" was the highest ranked among the India-based think tanks.^[3]

Name	Global Rank (2019)^[1]^{[ failed verification ]}	Specialization	Funding Type	City (State)	Notes
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)		Politics, Election, Governance	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR)		Agriculture	Government	Nagpur (Maharashtra); Sirsa (Haryana)
Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB)		Agriculture, Animal Husbandry	Government	Hisar (Haryana)	^[4]
Central Sheep Breeding Farm (CSBF)		Agriculture, Animal Husbandry	Government	Hisar (Haryana),India	^[5]
Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS)	29 - Top Defence and National Security Think Tank - Worldwide (2019)^{[ citation needed ]} 78 - Top Think Tanks in China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (2019)^{[ citation needed ]}	Air Power, National Security, International Security	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Centre for Civil Society (CCS)	83^{[ citation needed ]}	Politics	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR)		Peacebuilding	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Centre for Development Studies (CDS)		Politics, Infrastructure, Social Science	Government	Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)		Strategic Studies, Regional and National Security, International Relations	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)		Economic Statistics and Database, Economic Policy	For-profit	Mumbai
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)		Politics, Policy, Governance	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)		Politics, Policy, Governance	Not-for-profit	Kochi (Kerala)
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)		Environment	Non-Governmental Organization	New Delhi
Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)		Policy, Science and Technology	Government	Bengaluru (Karnataka)
Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S)		China, International Relations, Strategy	Not-for-profit	Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
Council On Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)		Energy, Environment, Water	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Edward & Cynthia Institute of Public Health (ECIPH)		Global Health, Public Health	Not-for-profit	Mangalore, India
Forum of Free Enterprise (FFE)		Entrepreneurship, Business	Not-for-profit	Mumbai (Maharashtra)
Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR)		Politics, Policy, Governance	Not-for-profit	Hyderabad (Telangana)
Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA)		International Relations, Diplomacy, Strategy	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA)		Business	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)	42	Military, Security, Geopolitics	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID)		Business, Industries	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Institute of Economic Growth (IEG)		Business, Economy	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Institute of Food Security (IFS)		Food, Policy	Government	Gurgaon (Haryana)
Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC)		Economy, Social Science, Policy	Government	Bengaluru (Karnataka)
International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS)		Free Software	Government	Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
International Growth Centre (IGC)		Business, Economy	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS)		Economics, Sociology and Anthropology	Government	Bhubaneswar
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)		Agriculture	Government	New Delhi
National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD)		Food, Agriculture	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)		Business, Economics	Government	New Delhi
National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS)		Science, Social Science	Government	Bengaluru (Karnataka)
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP)		Business, Finance, Policy	Government	New Delhi	^[6]
National Maritime Foundation (NMF)		Matters related to Maritime	Non-governmental	New Delhi	Indian Navy's Knowledge Partner
National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE)		Agriculture, Animal Husbandry	Government	Hisar (Haryana)	^[7]
National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Hisar (NRCPB)		Agriculture, Animal Husbandry	Government	Hisar (Haryana)	At CCS HAU
PRS Legislative Research (PRSLR)		Politics, Constitution	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)		Health, Science, Policy	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Research Foundation for Governance in India (RFGI)		Politics, Policy, Governance	Not-for-profit	Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG)		International relations, Strategy, Politics, Policy, Governance	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF)		Culture, Civilization, Politics, Policy	Not-for-profit	New Delhi
World Resources Institute India (WRI India)	3 - Top Environmental Policy think tank 2019^{[ citation needed ]} 6 - Best transdisciplinary research think tank 2019^{[ citation needed ]}	Environment Policy, Climate Change, Urban Transport	Not-for-profit	Mumbai New Delhi Bangalore ^[8]
Wildlife Institute of India (WII)		Ecology Policy	Government	Dehradun (Uttarakhand)

Related Research Articles

A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.

The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global economy, and economic development.

Bruegel is a think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues. Based in Brussels, it launched its operations in 2005 and currently conducts research in five different focus areas with the aim of improving economic debate and policy-making.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in 1910 by Andrew Carnegie, the organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between countries, reducing global conflict, and promoting active international engagement between the United States and countries around the world. It engages leaders from multiple sectors and across the political spectrum.

"Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy", also known as the "Baker Institute", is an American think tank housed on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1993, it functions as a center for public policy research. It is named for James A. Baker, III, former United States Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and White House Chief of Staff. It is directed by Ambassador David M. Satterfield and funded mainly by donor contributions, endowments, and research grants.

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is an independent global think tank based in Delhi, India. The foundation has three centres in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. ORF provides potentially viable inputs for policy and decision-makers in the Indian Government and to the political and business communities of India. ORF started out with an objective of dealing with internal issues of the economy in the wake of the 1990s reforms. However, today its mandate extends to security and strategy, governance, environment, energy and resources, economy and growth.

Centre for Civil Society (CCS) is a non-profit think tank based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1997 by Dr Parth J Shah, former Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan. It operates as an independent educational organisation.

The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi, is India's foremost think tank for advanced research in international relations, especially defence, strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian, military and paramilitary officers of the Indian government. It is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence but operates as a non-partisan and autonomous body. It aims to promote national and international security by carrying out research on defence and security-related issues and disseminating the knowledge among the policy-makers and wider public.

DCAF- ; Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance is an intergovernmental foundation-based think tank that provides research and project support to states and international actors in improving security sector governance and reform.

The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development.

The Macdonald–Laurier Institute (MLI) is a public policy think tank located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) was a non-profit program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1989 to 2021. TTCSP was originally established at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in 1989. The director was James McGann. The program conducted research on policy institutes around the world, and maintained a database of over 8,200 think tanks from across the world.

Fundação Getulio Vargas is a Brazilian higher education institution and think tank founded on December 20, 1944.

The International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) is an independent NGO, founded in 1994 which aims to promote public policy concepts and practice and apply them to influential policy research that affects both the public and private sectors in Ukraine.

James G. McGann (1955–2021) was an American academic who was a Senior Lecturer in International Studies, Founder and Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, both in Philadelphia.

The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) is an advisory think tank specializing in energy economics, climate, and sustainability that seeks to advance Saudi Arabia’s energy sector and inform global policies through evidence-based advice and applied research. It is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Unirule Institute of Economics was a Beijing-based Chinese think tank established in 1993. Unirule conducted research and education in social sciences, primarily in economics, governance, policy, and culture. Unirule was dedicated to the open exchange of ideas in economics in general, with a particular focus on institutional economics. In the University of Pennsylvania's 2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Report, Unirule ranked 14th in the category of "Best Think Tanks with an Annual Operating Budget under $5M USD". In August 2019 the institute announced that it would be closing down due to governmental pressure.

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water, commonly known as CEEW, is a Not-For profit Think Tank and policy institution based in New Delhi, India. CEEW was formed to provide independent research-based insights to policymakers for building a sustainable India. The Council also has an office in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It has multiple research projects running across 22 Indian states and other parts of the world.

The Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP) at Jawaharlal Nehru University is one of India's oldest and top ranked university affiliated think tanks focusing on science and technology studies in India. First established in 1972 as Center for Interaction of Science and Society (CISS), it was closed in the late 1970s by the state, finding it too critical of the nuclear energy/weaponry policies of the Indira Gandhi regime. In 1996 the centre was revived as the Centre for Studies in Science Policy. It has been regularly ranked 11th worldwide in the "Top Science and Technology Think Tanks" category of Global Think Tank Index Report.

Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi is a political scientist who founded and presides over The Emirates Policy Center think tank.

References

1 2
- (29 January 2019). 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
↑ - James McGann, TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2018, University of Pennsylvania
↑ Observer Research Foundation named 'highest ranked' Indian think tank, Business Standard, 1 February 2019.
↑ "About CIRB". Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
↑ "Central sheep breeding farm". Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, GoI. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
↑ National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Government of India, Department of Finance. Accessed 21 May 2012.
↑ "Vision 2030" (PDF). National Research Centre on Equines. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
↑ "WRI India" . Retrieved 22 March 2021.

List of think tanks in India

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