The first Minister of Commerce and Industry of independent India was Syama Prasad Mukherjee.

[2] 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.

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.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is also responsible for intellectual property rights relating to patents, designs, trademarks, copyrights and geographical indication of goods and oversees the initiative relating to their promotion and protection.

udChalo, Ratan Tata backed Repos and others remarkable startups [6] are among the winners.