India became a member of CGIAR in 1981, although its involvement with the CGIAR dates back much earlier. In 1972 itself, one of the CGIAR institute, ICRISAT was established in Hyderabad (India). CGIAR's contribution to the "green revolution" in India has been appreciable as they have contributed several high quality "miracle seeds" of wheat and rice. Since then, CGIAR Centres have been providing a good support to ICAR's research activities.

CGIAR centers are also a vast reservoir of germplasm of a variety of crops. Partnership with CGIAR is proving instrumental in developing human resource and imparting cutting edge skills to Indian scientists. India contributes US $ 0.75 million annually to CGIAR system.

Indian cooperation with CGIAR Institute is in the form of MoUs/ Work plans. India have entered into MoU with 13 CG Centres including CIMMYT, IRRI, ICRISAT, IGPRI, World Fish Centre and IWMI.