National Institute for Research on Commercial Agriculture

History

In 1945, Government of India constituted Indian Central Tobacco Committee (ICTC) to improve the research activities and production of tobacco in India. To improve research activities, quality control and production of Tobacco, the institute is established in 1947 which was later undertaken by ICAR.

Previously, it was known to be ICAR-Central Tobacco Research Institute or ICAR-CTRI. But in 2025, the name was changed to ICAR-National Institute for Research on Commerce Agriculture or ICAR-NIRCA to broaden its mandate by including by high-value commercial crops such as Chilli, Tumeric, Ashwasgandha, Castor, besides Tobacco, to support the vision.