The Indian Occupational Therapists Think Tank (IOTTT) was founded by Dr. Karthik Mani as a voluntary group. He invited several likeminded, professionally oriented occupational therapists for a meeting to discuss professional issues that affect occupational therapy (OT) practice in India. The first meeting of the voluntary group was held on February 3, 2019 in Chennai, India. The voluntary group eventually decided to meet virtually on a quarterly basis to engage in efforts to address the issues that may influence the profession in India. The group engaged in publishing simple OT definitions for different stakeholders in several Indian languages, COVID-19 guidelines for rehabilitation professionals, tele-rehabilitation guidelines, and scholarly articles. In 2021, IOTTT published the official ‘Scope of Practice of Occupational Therapy in India‘ through a scholarly article in Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy.
In 2021, a new initiative titled ‘Saturday Night Chat with IOTTT’ was started to provide a virtual platform for OT professionals and students in India to brainstorm professional issues related to the practice of OT.
In 2021, the voluntary group has recognized a need for and decided to become a registered entity to empower its efforts and initiatives. Eventually, IOTTT became a registered society under the ‘Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975’ in 2022.