<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> <P> The land for building the new city of Delhi was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 . </P> <P> On 12 December 1911, during the Delhi Durbar, George V, then Emperor of India, along with Queen Mary, his Consort, made the announcement that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, while laying the foundation stone for the Viceroy's residence in the Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp . The foundation stone of New Delhi was laid by King George V and Queen Mary at the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911 at Kingsway Camp on 15 December 1911, during their imperial visit . Large parts of New Delhi were planned by Edwin Lutyens, who first visited Delhi in 1912, and Herbert Baker, both leading 20th - century British architects . The contract was given to Sobha Singh . The original plan called for its construction in Tughlaqabad, inside the Tughlaqabad fort, but this was given up because of the Delhi - Calcutta trunk line that passed through the fort . Construction really began after World War I and was completed by 1931 . The city that was later dubbed "Lutyens' Delhi" was inaugurated in ceremonies beginning on 10 February 1931 by Lord Irwin, the Viceroy . Lutyens designed the central administrative area of the city as a testament to Britain's imperial aspirations . </P> <P> Soon Lutyens started considering other places . Indeed, the Delhi Town Planning Committee, set up to plan the new imperial capital, with George Swinton as chairman and John A. Brodie and Lutyens as members, submitted reports for both North and South sites . However, it was rejected by the Viceroy when the cost of acquiring the necessary properties was found to be too high . The central axis of New Delhi, which today faces east at India Gate, was previously meant to be a north - south axis linking the Viceroy's House at one end with Paharganj at the other . During the project's early years, many tourists believed it was a gate from Earth to Heaven itself . Eventually, owing to space constraints and the presence of a large number of heritage sites in the North side, the committee settled on the South site . A site atop the Raisina Hill, formerly Raisina Village, a Meo village, was chosen for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, then known as the Viceroy's House . The reason for this choice was that the hill lay directly opposite the Dinapanah citadel, which was also considered the site of Indraprastha, the ancient region of Delhi . Subsequently, the foundation stone was shifted from the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911--1912, where the Coronation Pillar stood, and embedded in the walls of the forecourt of the Secretariat . The Rajpath, also known as King's Way, stretched from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan . The Secretariat building, the two blocks of which flank the Rashtrapati Bhawan and houses ministries of the Government of India, and the Parliament House, both designed by Baker, are located at the Sansad Marg and run parallel to the Rajpath . </P>

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