The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) is an Indian research institute for social sciences and humanities.

It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari[1] and is largely funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

[3] Kothari left his position as assistant director of the National Institute of Community Development in 1963 to establish the CSDS.

It was housed initially in a building owned by the Indian Adult Education Association at Indraprastha Estate, Delhi.

The collection consists of about 29,000 books and 5,000 bound volumes of journals and a modest set of reports and booklets.