The ICAR- Indian Institute of Maize Research (ICAR-IIMR) is a premier national institute under the aegis of the Crop Science Division of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. IIMR is mandated to plan, coordinate and execute the research programmes to augment the production and productivity of maize including fodder and specialtycorn in India. It is an ISO 9001:2015 compliant institute.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) established the first Coordinated Crop Improvement Project on maize (CCIPM) in 1957. Before inception of the coordinated programme, state economic botanists used to undertake maize research in India as part of their crop improvement activity. Dr. E.W. Sprague, a decorated maize scientist from the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), was the first coordinator of the first of its kind centralised crop improvement programme in India. Dr. N.L. Dhawan, a distinguished plant breeder from ICAR superseded Dr. Sprague. The CCIPM was further strengthened in 1963 through PL 480 funds by appointing new research staff and it was renamed as All Indian Coordinated Maize Improvement Project (AICMIP). It was further upgraded to Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) in January 1994. On 9th February, 2015 DMR was upgraded to ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research (ICAR-IIMR) to further consolidate the maize research programme in the country. The headquarter of ICAR-IIMR was shifted from New Delhi to Ludhiana in 2016. The off-season nursery, Winter Nursery Centre (WNC) was established at Amberpet, Hyderabad in 1962 to accelerate the maize improvement programme of north Indian maize research centres where winter temperature is not conducive for maize cultivation. Subsequently, the WNC was shifted to Rajendranagar, Hyderbad in 2008. Realizing the growing importance of winter (rabi)maize in eastern India and to cater the need of seed production a Regional Maize Research and Seed Production Centre (RMRSPC) was established at Kushmahaut, Begusarai, Bihar in 1997.