National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR):

• National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) is India’s premier R&D institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• It was established as an autonomous Research and Development Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 1998.
• It is also responsible for the maintenance of the Indian stations in Antarctica (Maitri & Bharati) and the Arctic (Himadri).
• The Geoscientific Programmes at NCPOR seek to carry out a systematic geoscientific survey of the Ocean realm around India.
• In the field of the mineral exploration mandate of NCPOR is currently confined to the exploration of gas hydrate occurrences within the EEZ as well as Multi-metal hydrothermal mineralization in the Indian ridge area.