Government of India will construct a new building near India Gate in Delhi to house the commerce department of the central government.
The building, to be constructed at the junction of Akbar and Man Singh Roads, will remain true to the style of the other buildings in the area — also known as the Central Vista — created by the British.
“While retaining the Central Vista architecture, the Vanijya Bhawan will have all modern technology driven features,” the central government said.
The commerce department is part of the ministry of commerce and industry, and is currently housed at the Udyog Bhawan (Industry House), also near the Central Vista (Raj Path).
“The new building will be a symbol of not only India’s growing economic might but also the adoption and use of technology in governance in India. The manner in which public procurement in India has been transformed by Government e-Marketplace (GeM), is an exemplary use of information technology by the Department of Commerce,” it added.
The commerce department is largely in charge of looking after India’s trade with the rest of the world, while the industry department looks at industries within India.
The government expects the department to become more important going forward.
“With the addition of new responsibilities like Integrated Logistics Sector Development to its already wide portfolio including the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of the country’s foreign trade policy, work relating to multilateral and bilateral commercial relations, Special Economic Zones, state trading and export promotion and trade facilitation, the role of the Department of Commerce will become even more important for the economic growth of the country,” it said.
At present, it added, many offices of the Commerce Department are working from rented locations.
The Central Vista was designed by architects Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Herbert Baker a hundred years ago when the British shifted their capital in India from Calcutta to Delhi.