It was the Indian Sugar Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1920 that first recommended the establishment of an all India institute for research in sugar technology. The need for a central sugar research institute was also emphasized by the Royal Commission in Agriculture in 1928 and the Tariff Board in 1930. The Government of India accordingly established the Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology at Kanpur in October, 1936 by taking over the Sugar Section of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute H.B.T.I. Kanpur. The Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology was placed under the administrative control of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research but continued to be housed in the building of the (H.B.T.I.) With the formation of Indian Central Sugarcane Committee in 1944, the administrative control of the Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology was transferred to that committee. Consequent upon India's attaining independence, the name of the institute was changed to Indian Institute of Sugar Technology ( I.I.S.T.). With the formation of the Development Council for Sugar Industry under the provisions of the Industries ( Development and Regulation ) Act, 1951, the functions of the Indian Central Sugarcane Committee were abridged with effect from 1st January, 1954 and the administrative control of the Institute was transferred to the Government of India, Ministry of Food & Agriculture. In April, 1957, the name of the Institute was again changed to National Sugar Institute (N.S.I.). The Institute shifted from the H.B.T.I., to its present premises in Kalyanpur in 1963.