Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) is a public deemed university in Mumbai, India. It is focused on training and research in the fields of chemical engineering, chemical technology, and pharmaceutical sciences.
Established in 1933, the institute was granted deemed university status in 2008, making it the only state-funded deemed university in India. In 2018, ICT was named an institute with a special status per the Empowered Expert Committee and was given the status of Category 1 institute with graded autonomy by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission (India).
The institute also has regional campuses at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Jalna, Maharashtra.
History Founding In 1921, the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Committee recommended an institution of the Faculty of Technology at University of Mumbai and a college of technology in Bombay. In 1930, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi's motion in the Academic Council for the institution of a Department of Chemical Technology was accepted. In 1932, Schemes for two-year post-B.Sc. courses in Textile Chemistry and in Chemical Engineering leading to a B.Sc. (Tech) degree and the subsequent M.Sc. (Tech) and Ph.D. (Tech) degrees by research were approved.
The ICT was founded on 1 October 1933, as University Department of Chemical and Technology (UDCT) of the University of Mumbai by then vice chancellor Sir Vitthal N. Chandavarkar. Since he was also the Chairman of Mill Owners' Association, Chandavarkar was keen on catering to the needs of Mumbai's bustling textile industry. The institute offered admissions to 15 students in 2 two-year post-B.Sc. degree courses, B.Sc. (Tech) in Textile Chemistry and B.Sc. (Tech) in Chemical Engineering. These courses were started in the then Royal Institute of Science, Fort, Mumbai (now renamed as The Institute of Science, Mumbai), since the department's own building had not begun construction. Robert B. Forster of the University of Leeds became a Professor of Chemical Technology and the first Head of the Department on 26 October 1933. Krishnasami Venkataraman became the first Indian director of the institute on 8 November 1938. The first Ph.D. (Tech) and Ph.D. (Sci) degrees were awarded by the department in 1940 and 1941, respectively. The foundation stone for the department's own building was laid in Matunga, Mumbai on 17 March 1941.
Expansion The current campus in Matunga was occupied in June 1943. In 1944, other specializations: Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals; Chemistry of Food and Drugs; Technology of Intermediates and Dyes; Technology of Oils, Fats and Waxes; and Technology of Plastics, Paints and Varnishes were added to the B. Sc. (Tech) course. In 1948, B.Sc. (Tech) (Technology of Plastics) and B.Sc. (Tech.) (Technology of Paints, Pigments, and Varnishes) replaced the B.Sc. (Tech) (Technology of Plastics, Paints and Varnishes). In 1949, the B.Sc. (Tech) course in the Chemistry of Foods and Drugs re-designated as Technology of Foods. In 1951, the four-year Post-lnterscience course, B.Chem.Engg. course replaced the earlier B.Sc. (Tech) course in Chemical Engineering and the intake was increased from 15 to 20. In 1958, the number of seats for the B.Chem.Enng course were further increased to 60. The Departments of Chemistry and General Engineering were started in 1952. The first female student was awarded a Ph.D. (Tech) in 1957. A three-year Bachelors of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) course was launched in 1958, becoming the first course of its kind in the state of Maharashtra. In 1960, ICT celebrated its Silver Jubilee, and the occasion was graced by then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1984, a four-year B.Pharm course replaced the earlier three-year course. In 2001, four year B.Tech courses replaced all B.Sc. (Tech) courses.
Autonomy The university received partial autonomy from University of Mumbai in 1985 and was conferred the autonomous status on the UDCT in 1994, with concurrence from the Maharashtra State Government and the UGC. UDCT was renamed as the Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology (Autonomous) (MUICT) on 26 January 2002. In June 2004, in accordance with the Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) of the Government of India, under which the institute was selected as a Lead Institution, the Government of Maharashtra granted complete autonomy to the institute. On 12 September 2008, it was granted the deemed university status and renamed as the Institute of Chemical Technology. In 2008, the DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences was also inaugurated with support from the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India.
Institute of Chemical Technology was the first institute to be granted the elite badge by the government of the state of Maharashtra. This along with the centre of excellence status put the institute on a par with other reputable schools such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. It also makes the institute, eligible for various special grants from the union and the state governments. In November 2019, Aniruddha B. Pandit, a senior professor and a dean at the institute took charge of the post of Vice Chancellor, succeeding long time director Ganpati D. Yadav. In July 2024, Jyeshtharaj Bhalchandra Joshi was appointed as the Chancellor of the institute, succeeding Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, who held the position for two decades.
ICT was granted deemed university status in 2008, making it the only state-funded deemed university in India. On 12 February 2018 it was given the status of Category 1 institute with graded autonomy by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission (India). It is also an institute with a special status per the Empowered Expert Committee in 2018.
In 2025, alumnus Mukesh Ambani announced an unrestricted gift of ₹151 crore (equivalent to US$16.7 million) to the institute. This gift was announced during the release of biography of Man Mohan Sharma, the influential former director of ICT.
Campus
ICT is located on a campus at . The academic building faces Nathalal Parekh Marg. Other buildings including two boy's hostels, two girl's hostels, faculty and staff apartments are located behind the academic building. The rear boundary of the institute runs along the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. The institute is located opposite to Veermata Jijabai Technical Institute (VJTI).
Satellite campuses Additional campuses are operational in Bhubaneswar, Odisha in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP) and another at Jalna, Maharashtra (Marathwada campus). The Bhubaneswar campus of ICT started its academic session on 3 September 2018 at the IIT Kharagpur extension centre. The Bhubaneswar campus was inaugurated initially by the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on 18 March 2018 and the academic session was inaugurated by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Sanjiv Singh, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation. A 203 acres Marathwada campus was established with a grant of 397 Crore by the state cabinet of Maharashtra. The foundation stone of the campus was laid on 4 May 2018 by then Chief Minister of Govt. of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis along with others. Shashank T. Mhaske is the current Director of the ICT-Marathwada Campus, Jalna, and Ravindra V. Adivarekar is the current Director of the ICT-IOC Campus, Odisha.
Library Established in 1934, the library was renamed Prof. M M Sharma Library on January 8, 1999. It functions as the central library of the institute and is one of the special collection libraries in the country. The library can boast of rich heritage collection of old classic books and bound volumes dating back to the 1930s. It has 38,200 books, 25,290 journals and 10,000 standards and subscribes to 120 international and 25 national journals. Along with the traditional collection, it also has a significant digital collection with access to more than 500 electronic journals as well as databases such as Reaxys, Sci-Finder, Scopus, and Web of science. It performs a dual role of an Academic Library as well as a Research Library, catering to both the in-house students and faculty, and outside technologists and industrialists. It is housed in a separate Ground Plus two-storied building. It is a unique library in India to have its own endowment fund. The library is also a member of E-ShodhSindhu Consortium. It has MOU with BONET for participating in exchange program devised by MISSAT, DST, New Delhi.
Academics ICT offers three degrees at undergraduate level: B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), B.Chem.Eng. (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering), B.Pharm. (Bachelor of Pharmacy). The institute offers several courses at the masters level which specialize in Chemical Technology, Chemical Engineering, Pharmacy and general science courses. ICT is accredited by AICTE, NAAC, NBA, NIRF. The off campuses of ICT at Bhubaneswar and Jalna also provide a 5-year Integrated M.Tech. in Chemical Engineering course as Majors and some additional branches as Minors, which is one of a kind in India as it consists of a trimester based system with alternate academic and industry trimesters. The Bhubaneswar Campus has also started an Executive M.Tech. programme which is a joint degree programme of ICT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur making it the first state public university to provide a joint degree with an IIT in the country.
Faculty and Student Support
The ICT has sanctioned positions of 108 faculty (29 Professors, 38 Associate Professors and 41 Assistant Professors) and a support staff of 240. There are 114 visiting faculties (who typically are industry researchers), 7 emeritus faculties, and 4 adjuncts. The ICT has a tradition of establishment of endowments with an objective of supporting faculty positions, foreign travel assistance, merit-cum-means scholarships, staff welfare, library, campus development, research fellowships and seed money for research by young faculty. There are 90 faculty endowments in the institute. All these endowments have been established through generous donations by alumni, industries, philanthropists and well wishers. Only part of the interest (up to 50-70%) is used towards the purpose of the endowment and the remaining is invested back into the corpus. There are 22 endowment chairs, as well as 49 visiting fellowships which helps attract the best professionals to the institute from all over the world who interact with UG and PG students, faculty and alumni. The honoraria range from ₹ 5000 to 1.25 lakhs for a period of one day to 15 days. Some eminent faculty from institutes such as MIT, Purdue, Cambridge, Monash, UC Berkeley, UCSB, Montreal have taught UG and PG courses in ICT under these endowments. These lectures will form part of audit courses for research students. Besides, public lectures are organized under each endowment. Each academic year, 251 students are supported through under merit-cum-means scholarships. The range is ₹3000-75,000 per year per person through several endowments, private trust and annual commitments by alumni. All economically deprived students are given assistance in the form of tuition fees, hostel fees, mess bills and travel assistance to present papers in national conferences.
Fellows of Royal Society Till date ICT has produced three Fellows of Royal Society- Man Mohan Sharma, Raghunath Anant Mashelkar. G. D. Yadav, former Vice Chancellor of ICT, Bhalchandra Bhanage, Head of Department of Chemistry and Anant Kapdi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, were bestowed with Fellowship of Royal Society of Chemistry.
Rankings