The IB centenary endowment lecture series was started in 1988 during the IB’s centenary year celebration. The year-long celebrations were marked by seminars, workshops and lectures on National security issues in different parts of the country in which Intelligence Bureau personnel interacted with public leaders, administrators, Intellectuals and officers of other security agencies. The Centenary Year culminated in a week-long celebration in the National capital. Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, the then Vice President of India, addressed the closing function on December 22, 1988 by delivering a lecture on the subject ‘The Dynamics of Security Environment’. After the first lecture by Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, a centenary Endowment lecture is organised in the third or fourth week of December every year. Thirty two (32) such lectures have been delivered by eminent speakers on wide range of issues related to India’s security, the development of the Indian polity and on the state of the nation.

The Centenary Endowment Lecture provides a wide cross-section of Intelligence Bureau personnel the opportunity to hear intellectuals, leaders and thinkers on some contemporary issue. For all personnel of the Intelligence Bureau, the annual gathering is also an occasion on which they rededicate themselves to the highest level of professionalism and firm their commitment to maintain the unity and integrity of the country.