The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) was founded in 1961 to increase and improve understanding between India and the United States through academic research in various aspects of Indian life and thought. The Institute is headquartered at Gurgaon just outside of New Delhi and maintains branches in Calcutta, Chennai and Pune.

The Institute’s broad fellowship program has funded research into such diverse topics as the effects of economic globalization, urban development and planning, family kinship and village organization, as well as studies of Indian folklore, Buddhist philosophy, Muslim mystical poetry and ancient Sanskrit and Tamil texts. As well as research fellowships, the AIIS awards fellowships to those who are involved in the performing and creative arts of India. In addition to its fellowship program, the Institute operates intensive language programs in India for the summer and academic year in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and other Indian languages, including those that are rarely taught in the United States.

AIIS maintains two major research centers with large libraries and archives—the Archive and Research Center for Ethnomusicology and the Center for Art and Archaeology—both housed at the AIIS center at Gurgaon. An active publication program includes a multivolume Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. Fifty-two United States universities and colleges hold institutional memberships in the American Institute of Indian Studies. The United States office is located at the University of Chicago.