Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) is a bushy plant and its leaves produce low calorie sweetners (nine steviol glycosides) of which stevioside and rebaudioside-A are the major ones and 300 to 400 times sweetner than sucrose. Steviosides are ldeal for diabetics and as low calorie diets. With increasing consumer interest in natural products and the recent FDA approval of Stevia rebaudiana as GRAS, it is expected that the annual demand of stevia products will touch $700 million with in next five years. Such a demand is required to be supported by improved varieties of stevia for agronomical traits as well as higher rebaudioside-A content. With the increased incidence of diabetes and obesity in India and abroad and growing concern over the health safety of some synthetic sweetners, a low calorie sweetner with market acceptability is the need. This two day "Symposium on Prospects of Stevia" is being organized at IHBT (CSIR), Palampur will provide a platform for researchers, academicians and industrialists to interact and discuss various issues related to development of this crop at national level. The symposium will emphasize on the aspects of Cultivation, Genetic improvement, Genomics and metabolomics, Post harvest technology and Regulatory issues. The technical programme will include invited lectures of prominent scientists, oral and poster presentations highlighting the latest advancement and applications. In context to this, scientists, academicians and representatives from industry from all over the country are invited to participate in two days deliberations of the symposium. Looking forward to your active participation and making this event a grand success.