In the 1950s, India was a young nation without an effective economic development infrastructure. With funding from the Ford Foundation, in 1955, SRI conceived of India’s nonprofit National Council for Applied Economic Research. Many SRI staff members helped train the Center’s Indian staff in investigative techniques and practices.
This non-government, contract research-based organization, established in 1956, was unlike anything in India at the time. More than 50 years later, it is perhaps the best, most unbiased, and most often quoted source in India for a wide range of economic, consumer and labor information.
Since the early 1950s, SRI has provided economic development research, analysis, and advice to more than 100 countries.