The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) is an autonomous scientific research institution based in Pune, Maharashtra, functioning as a national center for basic and applied research in monsoon meteorology and atmospheric sciences. The need for such an institute arose in the 1950s to study fundamental atmospheric problems and the mechanism of the monsoon, which was critical for India's post-Independence economic development program. Following a recommendation by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Government of India formally approved the proposal in February 1962 under the Third Five Year Plan. It was initially founded as the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM) on November 17, 1962, as a distinct unit of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). It was transformed into an autonomous organization and renamed IITM on April 1, 1971, based on the recommendation of the Committee for Organization of Scientific Research (COSR).
IITM works to enhance knowledge in Atmospheric Sciences by conducting research in areas like Weather Forecasting, Climatology, Monsoon Studies, and Climate Modelling. It expands research on the ocean–atmosphere climate system to improve weather and climate forecasts. The institute is currently under the administrative control of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), a shift that took effect from July 12, 2006, from the Department of Science and Technology (DST). IITM connects to the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) by housing a 4.0 petaflops unit of the Pratyush supercomputer, which is used for climate monitoring and forecasting. A recent development is the establishment of the Coastal Atmospheric Research Testbed (C-ART) at Andhra University, inaugurated on May 1, 2026, under the Mission Mausam initiative.