<P> The foundation stone of the city was laid by George V, Emperor of India during the Delhi Durbar of 1911 . It was designed by British architects, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker . The new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931, by Viceroy and Governor - General of India Lord Irwin . </P> <P> New Delhi has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission . </P> <P> Calcutta (now Kolkata) was the capital of India during the British Raj until December 1911 . </P> <P> Delhi had served as the political and financial centre of several empires of ancient India and the Delhi Sultanate, most notably of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857 . During the early 1900s, a proposal was made to the British administration to shift the capital of the British Indian Empire, as India was officially named, from Calcutta on the east coast, to Delhi . The Government of British India felt that it would be logistically easier to administer India from Delhi in the centre of northern India . </P>

When was the capital of india transferred from calcutta to delhi