The Indian Sugar Industry is the second largest among the agro-based processing industries in India after the textile industry with around Rs.30000 crore (Rs.3000 millions) of turnover. The Sugar Industry has played a major role in integrating rural development. In India more than 550 sugar factories are now installed. More than 45 million sugarcane growers and their dependents are directly related to the Sugar Industry and itself is the largest employer in rural areas, providing work for about 0.4 million people.

VSI’s mission as a R&D Organization is to bring about improvement in the socio-economic status of sugarcane grower farmers through research by providing to them new and cutting edge technologies by undertaking or helping to carry on research and other scientific work in connection with the trade or industry related to sugarcane/ sugarbeet or other sugar bearing plants, sugar by-products and allied industries in India.

The Institute strives for an all-encompassing progress of the Indian Sugar Industry and to achieve objectives it operates mainly through three channels namely: Academic, Extension and Research.