The 'Institute Francais' devoted to research in Indian culture, was established in 1955, by J. Filliozat, the French Indologist. Besides its Indological studies, laboratories for research in Ecology, Cartography, Palynologyand Pedology have since been established here. The results of its research are published in "Publications de l'Institut Francias d'Indologie".

Another institution dedicated to keeping French tradition alive in Pondicherry, is the Alliance Francaise, which conducts French language classes and arranges cultural programmes and talks in French.

The Romain Rolland Library, the public library, has an invaluabale collection of more than 60,000 rare French Books.