Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research (SPIESR)

Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research is a leading Social Science Research Institute in India. It is an autonomous organisation registered as a Trust and Society under the relevant statutes in 1965. With the valuable cooperation of t atutes in 1965. With the valuable cooperation of the Gujarat Government, businessmen, and industrialists of Gujarat, the Institute started academic activities in 1969 with Prof. D.T. Lakdawala as its founder Director.Appreciating the role of such an institution of higher learning and research in Gujarat, the Gujarat government had given full maintenance grant during the initial years of the Institute’s development. By the mid-seventies, the Institute established its unique identity at the national level.Government of India recognised it as a National Institute in 1975 and, consequently, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, started sharing the maintenance grant on a 50:50 basisOver the years, the Institute has evolved a diversified programme of research, training and extension activities within the framework of the following main objectives:To conduct research on economic and social problems of basic and applied nature.Give due attention to the problems of the Gujarat economy and work on problems of the national economy.To foster training of young research scholars in India through training programmes.To actively engage in dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences particularly through cooperation with other educational institutions in the region.Organizing Seminars, Conferences and Workshops at the Institute and participation by the research staff of the Institute at regional, national, and international level are the other important facets of the working of the Institute. Faculty members of the Institute have been appointed to various committees of the Government of India and Gujarat, Planning Commission, Universities, Reserve Bank of India, and international agencies like UNCTAD, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.The Institute is a recognized institution of Gujarat University for Ph.D. Degree in Economics and is one of the centres of the ICSSR Study Grant Scheme for Ph.D students. The Institute is also a centre for the Data Consultancy Scheme of ICSSR. Research scholars from all over the country visit the Institute for consultation regarding Data Analysis, Research Survey, Methodology, etc. This scheme enables scholars to visit the Institute for six to eight weeks.