Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India)

Minister of Commerce and Industry

The Minister of Commerce and Industry is the head of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The first Minister of Commerce and Industry of independent India was Syama Prasad Mukherjee. The current Minister of State (Independent Charge) is Nirmala Sitharaman, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has held office since 26 May 2014.

Department of Commerce

The department is entrusted with formulating and implementing the foreign trade policy and responsibilities relating to multilateral and bilateral commercial relations, state trading, export promotion measures, and development and regulation of certain export oriented industries and commodities.

In order for the smooth functioning, the Department is divided into eight divisions:

The subjects under the administrative control of the Department include:

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion

This department was established in the year 1995, and in the year 2000 Department of Industrial Development was merged with it. This department is responsible for formulation and implementation of promotional and developmental measures for growth of the industrial sector, keeping in view the national priorities and socio-economic objectives. While individual administrative ministries look after the production, distribution, development and planning aspects of specific industries allocated to them, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion is responsible for the overall Industrial Policy. It is also responsible for facilitating and increasing the FDI flows to the country. It is also responsible to calculate WPI (I.e. Wholesale Price Index).

Policy and Promotion is also responsible for intellectual property rights relating to patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indication of goods and oversees the initiative relating to their promotion and protection.