Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is one of the seven Institutes of Technology created as centres of excellence for higher training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India, the others being at Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Bombay, Guwahati and Roorkee. Established as College of Engineering in 1961, the Institute was later declared an Institution of National Importance under the "Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963" and was renamed "Indian Institute of Technology Delhi".