All India Coordinated Research Project on Jute & Allied Fibres (renamed All India Network Project on Jute and Allied Fibres) was sanctioned and implemented by ICAR in 1967 and the Project started functioning from its headquarters at JARI, Barrackpore, West Bengal for a brief period during early seventies the Project functioned from JTRL, (renamed National Institute of Research for Jute and Allied Fibres Technology) but from April, 1974 it was again shifted to its present location at JARI ( since renamed Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres).

The primary objective of the Project was to intensify multi-disciplinary and multi-location research to develop jute and allied fibre crops which matures early, grows fast and produces superior quality fibre and to develop appropriate production and protection technology to ensure yield maximization and stability of production. In the initial stage (1969-70), four centresviz., Jute Research Station, Nagaon, Assam; Jute Research Station, Katihar, Bihar; Jute Research Station, Kendrapara, Orissa and Jute Research Station, Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh participated. Subsequently, Agricultural Research Station, Amadalavalasa, Andhra Pradesh was added to this programme for Mesta.

During the later part of the IVth Plan, one centre for jute at Jute Research Station, Coochbehar (WB); one centre for jute and sunnhemp at BurdwanUniversty, Burdwan (WB) to take up basic research on interspecific hybridization of jute and self incompatibility in sunnhemp, which was subsequently shifted to Bidhan Chandra KrishiViswaVidyalaya, Mohanpur (WB); one centre at Tamil Nadu Agril. Universty, Coimbatore (TN) for jute and mesta (subsequently shifted to Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai (TN) and one at Himachal Pradesh KrishiViswaVidyalaya, Palampur (HP) for flax were initiated. Biology and Agriculture Division, Bhaba Atomic Researcfh Centre, Trombay and Indian Jute Industries Research Association, Kolkata collaborated with this Project since mid-seventies. Both the organizations contributed significantly in developing and testing varieties.

The work on flax was taken off from the purview of this Project and shifted to All India Coordinated Research Project on Linseed in April, 1990. One new centre at Mahatma PhuleKrishiVidyapeeth, Rahuri, Maharashtra was sanctioned by ICAR in the VIIIth Plan for strengthening research on mesta, sunnhemp and jute seed production which started functioning from 1993. In 2004, the AICRP structure was again modified as All India Network Project (AINP) on Jute and Allied Fibres.