Information and Library Network Centre

What Information and Library Network Centre does

Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET Centre) is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the University Grants Commission under India's Ministry of Education, established in 1991 and operating independently since 1996. Headquartered at Infocity, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on land and in a building provided free-of-cost by the Government of Gujarat, the centre operates a Tier 3 data centre with 1 Gbps NKN connectivity and houses 45 scientific, technical, and administrative staff. It is funded entirely through central government grants and provides all services free of cost to beneficiary institutions — there is no commercial revenue stream.

INFLIBNET operates a portfolio of 20+ interconnected digital platforms covering the full research and library lifecycle for Indian higher education. Core products include SOUL (integrated library management software compliant with MARC 21, Unicode, NCIP 2.0, and SIP 2), IndCat (union catalogue of 1.27 crore+ bibliographic records from 155 university libraries), Shodhganga (2.52 lakh+ electronic theses and dissertations repository), e-ShodhSindhu/N-LIST/ONOS (national e-resource consortia providing 13,000+ journals to 6,500+ HEIs), IRINS and Vidwan (research information management and expert databases), INFED (Shibboleth-based federated single sign-on), ShodhShuddhi (plagiarism detection via Drillbit), and regulatory platforms (NIRF, ISBN, SWAYAM-PRABHA, e-NBA). Technology is built on open-source stacks — DSpace, Shibboleth, MySQL, Apache/Tomcat — with integrations into ORCID, Scopus, Research ID, Google Scholar, and Microsoft Academic.

The customer base comprises 6,500+ Indian Higher Education Institutions, 287 universities contributing theses, 155 university libraries, R&D institutions, and government regulators (UGC, MoE, ICSSR, NAAC). Beneficiary users under ONOS reach 17.78 crore. INFLIBNET holds a unique government-mandated nodal position for library modernization in India, with no commercial sales motion — outreach occurs through biennial CALIBER/PLANNER conventions, ICT training programmes (97,246 participants across 946 programmes), a quarterly newsletter, annual reports, and MoU-based institutional enrollment. Recent strategic moves include UP state universities MoU (July 2025), InfyMeet and ShodhPrabha product launches (2026), and continued expansion of the ONOS national licensing programme.

Name

Information and Library Network Centre

Legal name

Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET Centre)

Website

https://inflibnet.ac.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

INFLIBNET Centre is an autonomous Inter-University Centre of India's UGC/Ministry of Education that operates 20+ digital platforms — including library software (SOUL), union catalogue (IndCat), e-resource consortia (ONOS, e-ShodhSindhu), and thesis repository (Shodhganga) — free of cost to 6,500+ Indian Higher Education Institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Library Management Software & Digital Knowledge Infrastructure for Higher Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Library & Electronic Resources Operations (e-Resources, Repositories, Licensing) (EDAEAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Library & Learning Space Managed Operations (Circulation, Scheduling, Staffing) (EDAEALAL), Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Resource Sharing Operations (EDAEAGAK)

Keywords

• Library management software
• Digital repositories
• E-resource consortia
• Research information systems
• Academic federated access

Headquarters

HQ city

Gandhinagar

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Grant Funding: INFLIBNET Centre is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the University Grants Commission under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The centre is entirely funded through government grants and does not generate commercial revenue. All services (SOUL software, Shodhganga, N-LIST, e-ShodhSindhu, ONOS, etc.) are provided free of charge to beneficiary institutions.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

INFLIBNET Centre develops, operates, and provides a portfolio of digital platforms and software systems for Indian higher education, including the SOUL library management software, the IndCat union catalogue, the Shodhganga electronic thesis repository, the ONOS national journal licensing scheme, and the e-ShodhSindhu and N-LIST e-resource consortia. All services are delivered free of cost to universities, colleges, and R&D institutions as a centrally-funded initiative of the UGC/Ministry of Education. The portfolio also covers research information management (IRINS, Vidwan), plagiarism detection (ShodhShuddhi/Drillbit), federated access (INFED), and government e-governance portals (NIRF, ISBN, e-PG Pathshala, SWAYAM-PRABHA).

Product overview

INFLIBNET Centre operates as a product portfolio of interconnected digital platforms and services for India's higher education ecosystem. The core offerings include: (1) Library management systems (SOUL) and union catalogues (INDCAT); (2) E-resource access platforms (e-ShodhSindhu, N-LIST, ONOS) providing journals, e-books, and databases; (3) Open access repositories (Shodhganga, ShodhGangotri, IR@INFLIBNET) for theses and research publications; (4) Research enablement tools (IRINS, Vidwan, SheRNI) for academic identity and research management; (5) E-learning platforms (e-PG Pathshala, Vidya-Mitra, ILMS, SWAYAM-PRABHA); (6) Research lifecycle tools (Shodh-Chakra) and plagiarism detection (ShodhShuddhi); (7) Access management (INFED) and usage analytics (InfiStats). Recent launches include InfyMeet for academic events and ShodhPrabha for patent repositories. The ecosystem is unified through shared standards (MARC 21, Shibboleth) and supports institutional ranking (NIRF) and accreditation workflows.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SOUL: State-of-art Integrated Library Management System developed by INFLIBNET Centre for colleges, universities and other academic libraries.
• Shodhganga
• e-ShodhSindhu
• N-LIST
• IndCat
• Vidwan
• IRINS
• ONOS
• ShodhShuddhi

Products and services

• SOUL (Software for University Libraries) State-of-the-art integrated library management software compliant with MARC 21, Unicode, NCIP 2.0, and SIP 2 protocols, supporting RFID integration and multilingual records. Distributed to universities and colleges through MoU and a dedicated SOUL Support Cell with Regional Service Centres across India.
• IndCat (Union Catalogue of Indian Universities) Online union catalogue providing bibliographic records of books, theses, serials, and journals from 155+ university libraries in India. Contains 1,27,25,832 book records, 2,52,600+ thesis records, and 50,164 serial holding records.
• ONOS (One Nation One Subscription) National licensing platform providing access to 13,000+ full-text journals from 30 publishers to 6,500+ HEIs, eliminating duplicate subscriptions across 10 consortia and benefiting 177.82 Lakh users.
• e-ShodhSindhu Consortium providing access to over 10,000 full-text journals, 164,300+ e-books, and 4 databases for universities, colleges, and centrally funded technical institutions in India.
• N-LIST (National Library and Information Services Infrastructure for Scholarly Content) Programme providing 6,000+ journals, 1,64,300+ e-books, and 6,00,000 e-books through NDL to government and aided colleges across India, accessed via proxy server or Shibboleth authentication.
• Shodhganga (Electronic Theses Repository) DSpace-based digital repository for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) of research scholars in Indian universities, compliant with UGC Ph.D. regulations.
• ShodhGangotri Repository for electronic versions of approved research synopses submitted by Ph.D. scholars, mapped to full-text theses in Shodhganga.
• Shodh-Chakra (Research Lifecycle Management Portal) Platform integrating millions of resources to manage the complete research lifecycle of scholars, including access to full-text theses and researcher tools.
• ShodhShuddhi (Plagiarism Detection Service) Programme providing Drillbit Extreme Plagiarism Detection Software to Higher Education Institutions under the ShodhShuddhi Programme from 01.10.2023 onwards, ensuring academic integrity.
• IRINS (Institutional Research Information Management System) Web-based Research Information Management service for organizing research information at the institute level, integrating with ORCID, Scopus, Google Scholar, and other scholarly databases.
• Vidwan (Expert Database) Premier database of profiles of scientists and faculty members in academic institutions and R&D organizations, providing persistent URLs for expert profiles.
• Vidya-Mitra (Integrated e-Content Portal) Unified portal hosting 44,450+ e-texts and 66,000+ videos from all NME-ICT e-content projects, providing searchable access to multimedia learning content.
• INFED (Indian Access Management Federation) Shibboleth-based access management federation enabling authorized users from colleges and universities to authenticate once and access e-resources off-campus from anywhere.
• InfiStats (Usage Statistics Portal) COUNTER-compliant title-level usage statistics portal that imports data from publisher websites to provide consolidated e-resource utilization reports for member institutions.
• SWAYAM-PRABHA DTH Channels Group of 32 DTH channels for telecasting high-quality educational programmes on a 24x7 basis, with content repeated 5 times daily.
• e-PG Pathshala MHRD/NME-ICT initiative providing high-quality, peer-reviewed content for 70+ subjects in open-access mode for higher education.
• SheRNI (She Research Network in India) Expert profile network system connecting women researchers across various fields in India, providing collaboration, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
• NIRF Web Portal National Institutional Ranking Framework ranking platform that includes data capturing, perception system, and ranking methodology for Indian higher education institutions.
• ISBN Portal Dedicated portal for ISBN allotment, help-desk, and day-to-day operational work for the Department of Higher Education.
• ICSSR Data Service Indian Social Science Data Repository providing access to NSS and ASI datasets to researchers, developed under a project sanctioned by ICSSR.
• InfyMeet (Academic Events Platform) Free platform for academic institutions to register, announce, and manage workshops, seminars, and conferences, ensuring wider visibility and participation.
• ShodhPrabha (Academic Patents Repository) Centralized repository of academic patents generated by Indian universities, curating patent information from the past decade with metadata update capabilities and planned technology transfer collaboration features.
• LIB-VAHINI Digital platform for LIS (Library and Information Science) professionals to showcase profiles, achievements, and contributions with career development and networking opportunities.
• Online Copy-Catalogue System (OCS) Cooperative cataloguing system enabling institutions to build catalogues using IndCat with copy, copy-as-new, and create-new options.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97,246 participants trained across 946 ICT programmes for library professionals (as of December 2023)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability2 records

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• 38 State Public Universities and HEIs of Uttar PradeshcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2025Memorandum of Understanding signed on July 22, 2025 for INFLIBNET Services with 38 State Public Universities and Higher Education Institutions of Uttar Pradesh. These institutions will adopt INFLIBNET platforms including SOUL, Shodhganga, IRINS, and e-resource consortia.
• Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI), MauritiusminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMoU signed for computerization of the MGI Library. This is an international collaboration extending INFLIBNET's library automation expertise (SOUL software, IndCat) beyond India to a partner institution in Mauritius.
• ICSSR (Indian Council of Social Science Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICSSR sanctioned a project entitled 'Setting-up of Indian Social Science Data Repository for the ICSSR's Data Service' to INFLIBNET Centre. MoU signed between ICSSR and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for NSS and ASI datasets, hosted by INFLIBNET.
• National Library of IndiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Library of India is represented on the INFLIBNET Council as an ex-officio member. Dr. Ajay P Singh, Director General, National Library serves as a member of the Council governing body.
• NKN (National Knowledge Network) / NME-ICTcoreTechnology or IntegrationINFLIBNET Centre is connected to the National Knowledge Network providing 1 Gbps MPLS connectivity to all universities in India. This provides redundant Internet connectivity (NKN + BSNL) supporting INFLIBNET's Tier 3 data centre operations.
• UGC (University Grants Commission)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerINFLIBNET is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of UGC. UGC acts as the parent body, providing governance, funding, and strategic direction. The Chairman of UGC serves as President of the INFLIBNET Council.
• NDL (National Digital Library)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerN-LIST provides access to 6,00,000 additional e-Books through the National Digital Library (NDL) platform, complementing the 1,64,300+ e-Books under N-LIST for college-level access.
• Ministry of Education, Government of IndiaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerINFLIBNET operates under the Ministry of Education. The MoE assigns national-level projects to INFLIBNET including ONOS, UGC-MOOCs, SWAYAM PRABHA, NIRF portal, ISBN portal, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, e-NBA accreditation platform, and NAAC bibliometric validation.
• IIT Delhi (Unnat Bharat Abhiyan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEk Bharat Shrestha Bharat (EBSB) web portal, a sub-set of MoE's Unnat Bharat Abhiyan executed by IIT Delhi, is hosted and managed by INFLIBNET Centre for cultural exchange among Indian states.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• OCLC: Global library cooperative operating WorldCat (the world's largest union catalogue) and shared library infrastructure. Directly comparable to INFLIBNET's IndCat union catalogue and collaborative cataloguing mission, though at global scale.
• DELNET (Developing Library Network): India's premier library network providing union catalogues, inter-library loan, and resource sharing across Indian libraries. Operates in overlapping territory with INFLIBNET's IndCat and resource-sharing mandate.
• EBSCO Information Services: Major provider of e-resource subscription services, research databases, and discovery tools for academic libraries. Directly comparable to INFLIBNET's e-ShodhSindhu and N-LIST consortia, which aggregate and provide access to scholarly content.
• Ex Libris (Clarivate): Provider of Alma library management system and Primo discovery layer, used by leading academic libraries worldwide. Comparable to INFLIBNET's SOUL library management software in serving university libraries with integrated workflows.
• LYRASIS (formerly DuraSpace): Hosts and develops DSpace, the open-source repository platform underlying INFLIBNET's Shodhganga. Directly comparable as repository infrastructure providers serving academic and cultural heritage institutions.
• J-Gate (Informatics India): Indian e-resource gateway and discovery service aggregating scholarly content for academic institutions. Closely comparable to INFLIBNET's INFED federation and e-ShodhSindhu consortium in the Indian higher education market.

Others

• Crossref: Official DOI registration agency for scholarly publications. Comparable in being part of the global scholarly metadata and identifier infrastructure that underpins academic research workflows similar to those INFLIBNET supports via IRINS.

Broad incumbents

• ProQuest (Clarivate): Major aggregator of academic content, dissertations, and primary sources serving university libraries. Comparable as an e-content aggregator at much larger scale; overlaps with INFLIBNET's role in providing access to theses and scholarly content.

Regional players

• JISC: UK not-for-profit providing digital infrastructure and services to higher education, including library systems and research support. Comparable role as national digital infrastructure provider for universities.
• CALIS (China Academic Library & Information System): China's national academic library consortium operating union catalogues, resource sharing, and e-resource consortia for Chinese universities. Functionally analogous to INFLIBNET but operating exclusively in China.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/inflibnet
• Facebookfacebook.com/inflibnet.centre
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/information-and-library-network-centre-ahmedabad

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Information and Library Network Centre