Department of Rural Industries and Management is one of the oldest Departments in Gandhigram Rural Institute. It was established in the year 1956 as a training centre in rural industries for preparing and training man power in techno managerial cadres. Then it became a centre for Higher learning in rural industries.

The Department is unique in the university system as it offers programmes related to Rural Industries and Management which are quite inter disciplinary in nature. The programmes of the department deal with industrial processing and technology, Studies on functional areas of management and conducting research in enhancing overall performance of rural / small scale industries.