The establishment of All India Coordinated Research Project on Oilseeds (AICORPO) in April, 1967 based on the recommendations of a sub-committee appointed by the Government of India was the most significant event in the history of oilseeds research in India. The project had its beginning with one Project Coordinator to coordinate and monitor the research programmes of groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesame, linseed and castor operating at 32 research centres. Later, during 1972, safflower, sunflower and niger were brought under the umbrella of AICORPO and the number of research centres increased to 40. Realizing the need for one national institute for oilseeds, the AICORPO was elevated to the status of Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR) on August 1, 1977 with a Project Director as its administrative head and seven Project Coordinators for the seven mandate oilseed crops. Subsequently, groundnut and rapeseed-mustard were delinked from the Directorate with the establishment of National Research Centre for each of these crops during 1979 and 1993, respectively. In April 2000, the AICRP on Sesame & Niger and Linseed were separated from the administrative control of DOR. Later on, during February, 2015, DOR has been upgraded as “Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research” with expanded mandate to work on sesame, niger and linseed in addition to sunflower, safflower and castor along with facilitating allotment and report preparation of Frontline Demonstrations on Oilseeds.