Welcome to the CSIR- National Physical Laboratory (NPL-India) Website. 

CSIR-NPL is the custodian of National Standards and maintains the Indian Standard Time (IST). It is mandated to be India’s National Measurement Institute (NMI) by an act of Parliament. CSIR-NPL disseminates precision measurements that are needed for the growth of Indian science and industry as well as for the legal metrology needs of the nation.

The objectives of CSIR-NPL are,

• To develop measurement and calibration standards that are internationally accepted and are among the best in the world. To offer metrology services to the industry and to the problems of national interest including for legal metrology.
• To conduct multidisciplinary R&D to develop the measurement standards for evergreen and futuristic technologies like solar cells, bio-medical, and quantum information processing.
• To develop reference standard materials, Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND).
• To develop sophisticated analytical equipment under the Government of India’s Make in India initiative for emerging India.
• To train large pool of young scientists and industry personnel under the Skill India initiative.

To achieve these objectives, CSIR-NPL is striving to build on its expertise in precision measurements to,

• Be the national hub for measurement standards and calibration of equipment to meet the evolving needs of Indian industry and academia in emerging areas.
• Be the apex laboratory for testing of environmental pollutants with Indian standard reference materials (BNDs) which would also be useful in calibrating equipment.
• Develop sophisticated equipment to reduce the import dependence.
• Be the Centre of Excellence in skill development in the area of precision measurements.
• Setup research outreach program that offers the state-of-the-art facilities for industrial and academic research.

Prof. Venugopal Achanta
Director, CSIR-NPL

Prof. Venugopal Achanta
Director, CSIR-NPL

He joined CSIR-NPL as Director on 21st June 2021.

Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta did his M.Sc. in Physics from Central University Hyderabad. He obtained PhD in Physics from TIFR in 2000 for his work on Exciton dynamics in