The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was started by Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis sometime in 1920 at the Presidency College Kolkata. Registered on 28 April 1932, as a non-profit distributing learning society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860) is now registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act XXVI of 1961 amended in 1964. Sir R.N. Mookerjee was the first president of the institute.

Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was a Physicist who later became Statistician. It was Prof. Mahalanobis who undertook the entire statistical work single handedly during 1920s and 1930s in India. The early statistical studies included analyses of data on the stature of Anglo-Indians, meteorological data, rainfall data, data on soil conditions, etc. Some of the findings of these early studies were of great impact in the control of floods, development of agriculture, etc., and led to the recognition of Statistics as a key scientific discipline.

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) that started in a room and with a budget of Rs. 250 today has four large centers in the country in four major cities- Kolkata, New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The institute now comprises over 250 faculty members and over 1,000 supporting staff and several modern-day gadgets like the personal computers, workstations, minicomputers, supermini computers and mainframe computers.

The institute is well equipped for imparting teaching and training of mathematics, statistics and allied disciplines.