History of ERU

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) at Kolkata made a significant contribution to economic planning in India during the 1950's. Studies on planning were inaugurated at ISI, Kolkata in 1954 by India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. A Draft Plan frame for the Second Five Year Plan of India was prepared on the basis of these studies and submitted to the Prime Minister in March 1955 by Professor P. C. Mahalanobis, the founder of ISI. The Planning Division in Kolkata was formed at that time.

In 1968, the Planning Division was reorganized into two separate units: the National Income Research Unit (NIRU) and the Economic Research Unit (ERU). Around the mid-80's, NIRU was merged with ERU. The latter has been shouldering the bulk of the teaching responsibility in Applied and Theoretical Economics and Econometrics in the degree and other courses of ISI and ISEC (International Statistical Education Centre). It also conducts a full-fledged programme of research leading to the PhD degree.

In the mid-90's, ERU, along with the Planning Unit at ISI, Delhi Centre took the initiative of launching a two-year Master of Science course in Quantitative Economics (MSQE). This course is offered simultaneously at Kolkata and Delhi and has the distinction of being one of the few Master's level courses in India that concentrate entirely on training students in the application of advanced quantitative & mathematical techniques to economic problems. The course has turned out to be most popular amongst students. The industry as well as academic institutions in India and abroad have absorbed graduating students from this course.

ERU has a long tradition in high quality research in quantitative economics, mainly in economic theory, econometric methods and applications, and public policy. This is evidenced by the publication lists of its faculty members in well established international as well as national journals It has also been undertaking project work financed both by the ISI as well as external funding bodies, such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank.