IGNOU Regional Centre Chennai, one of the largest Regional Centres in the country was established in the year 1988 for serving the educational needs of the people  in the State of Tamil Nadu, Union Territory of Pondicherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Subsequently, two new Regional Centres, one at Port Blair and another at Madurai have been carved out of Regional Centre Chennai and the Chennai Regional Centre at present caters to the needs of the learners in the following 15 districts of Tamil Nadu :  1.Chennai, 2.Kancheepuram, 3. Vilupuram, 4.Salem, 5.Vellore, 6.Krishnagiri, 7.Dharmapuri, 8.Cuddalore, 9.Nagapattinam, 10.Perambalur, 11.Thiruvarur, 12.Namakkal, 13.Thiruvallur, 14.Thiruvannamalai, 15. Ariyalur and  Union Territory of Pondicherry.

The Chennai Regional Centre  started with around 5 Learner Support Centres (LSCs) and at present there are more than 100 LSCs supporting around 20,000 students admitted every year .  The cumulative enrolment of the Region at present is 1.5 lakh.

The office of Regional Centre, Chennai is housed in a sprawling premises with area of 11,000 sq.ft. building inside the Central Institute of Technology (CIT) Campus in Taramani, Chennai located on the famous Rajiv Gandhi IT Super Highway.