FEATURE ARTICLE Economic Impact Studies of Pressure and Vacuum Metrology at CSIR-NPL, India A. Zafer 1,2 , S. Yadav 1,2 *, N. D. Sharma 1,2 , A. Kumar 1,2 and D. K. Aswal 1 1 National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India 2 Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India Received: 08 July 2019 / Accepted: 04 November 2019 Ó Metrology Society of India 2019 Abstract: Measurement standards and metrological activities provide scientific and metrological infrastructure in the country. The Pressure and Vacuum Metrology (PVM) activity has a major role in national and international metro- logical research and development. The PVM group is successfully providing national calibration and measurement services and fulfilling its national duty as per the mandate of CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL). Since last 35 years, no significant efforts were made to assess socio-economic impact of the services provided. Such impact studies are carried out by several National Metrology Institutes, but in India it is still an unexplored area so far. This motivated us to carry out the impact assessment, and present paper is an attempt made in this direction. Systematic studies of the contribution of PVM, established at CSIR-NPL, on national industrial growth and economy, are carried out by assessment of impact. The aim of the present paper is to present the summary of the results thus obtained which is based on the investment made over the years and the estimated benefits to the users. The studies are based on some industrial survey, personal interviews and interactions with stakeholders and sampling of services provided over the years. An overall social rate of return, an indicator of system efficiency, is found to be 180% which is quite high as compared to the present rate of return (8%). This indicates that the PVM activity is quite efficient, and future investment in the activity is safe and would provide excellent returns. The studies are very useful for broader under- standing of the economic benefits of PVM and to improve understanding of the decision and policy makers about the relevance, continuation and further investment in PVM activity. This present case study may be explored and applied for other metrological fields also. Keywords: Economic impact; Pressure and vacuum; Net present value; Benefit-to-cost ratio; Social rate of return; Industrial survey 1. Introduction The National Metrology Institute of India (CSIR-NPL), being a public funded institution, has huge societal responsibilities to fulfill its mandate for the country. As per its charter, it is providing national standards of measurements to country through continuous research and development in metrology as evident in most recent publications [1–10]. In Indian industrial and scientific development, the role of Pressure and Vacuum Metrology (PVM), established at CSIR-NPL is significant and irreplaceable in the advancement of field and its related technologies [11]. No doubt, PVM group is successfully fulfilling its national duties, providing national calibration and measurement services since last 35 years. In order to prove the facts, it is essential to quantify the social achievements by performing the economic impact analysis. Impact analysis is not just only a tool for the assessment of performance of any public institution but it also provides guidelines for managerial decisions for future plan of the institute. This has motivated us to undertake the task to per- form the impact analysis of PVM activity of CSIR-NPL. 2. Methodology Performing the economic impact analysis is a very chal- lenging assignment, especially for the hardcore scientists *Corresponding author, E-mail: syadav@nplindia.org M  APAN-Journal of Metrology Society of India https://doi.org/10.1007/s12647-019-00356-2 123