It was founded on 9 April 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India.

Estate, New Delhi, with regional offices in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cuttack, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Shillong, Thiruvananthapuram and Varanasi.

The council also operates missions internationally, with established cultural centres in Georgetown, Paramaribo,[1] Port Louis, Jakarta, Moscow, Valladolid, Berlin, Cairo, London (Nehru Centre, London), Tashkent, Almaty, Johannesburg, Durban, Port of Spain and Colombo.

ICCR has opened new cultural centers in Dhaka, Thimphu, São Paulo, Kathmandu,[2] Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

In addition to organising cultural festivals in India and overseas, the ICCR financially supports a number of cultural institutions across India, and sponsors individual performers in dance, music, photography, theatre, and the visual arts.