The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was founded by Professor P.C. Mahalanobis in Kolkata in 1931. The institute imparts courses in research training and application of statistics to the natural and social sciences. By an act of Indian Parliament of 1959, the institute gained the status of an Institution of National Importance. The campus is located in the northern suburbs of Kolkata in Baranagar in Bon -Hooghly near the Dunlop Bridge. The institute has two other centers one in Delhi and the other in Bangalore. Other cities in India have branch offices in projects in Statistical Quality Control and Operations Research.

Unity in diversity is the motto of the institute and also with the objective to promote the diffusion of knowledge to develop statistical theory, to conduct research in fields of natural and social sciences along with the development of statistics and the collection of information, investigation, projects and operational research with the aim of planning and the increasing efficiency of management and production.

The Institute has the following departments, which are present in Calcutta and Bangalore. Department of Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Division, Department of Applied Statistics Surveys and Computing Division, Department of Computer and Statistical Service Centre, Department of Social Sciences Division, Department of Economic Analysis Unit, Department of Biological Sciences Division, Department of Physical and Earth Sciences Division, Department of SQC and OR Division, Department of SQC T and P Calcutta.