The National Archives of India is an attached office under the Ministry of Culture. It was established on 11 March 1891 as the Imperial Records Department in Kolkata (Calcutta). Following the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, the present building of the National Archives of India was constructed in 1926.

The English established their first factory in India at Surat. The East India Company, an English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, set up its first factory in Surat in 1600. Surat was an important port and commercial center during that period, and it played a significant role in early English trade activities in India.