 The new viceroy , Lord <unk> , advanced the date for the transfer of power , believing the continuous contention between the Congress and the Muslim League might lead to a collapse of the interim government . He chose the second anniversary of Japan 's surrender in World War II , 15 August , as the date of power transfer . The British government announced on 3 June 1947 that it had accepted the idea of <unk> British India into two states ; the successor governments would be given dominion status and would have an implicit right to secede from the British Commonwealth . The Indian Independence Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 <unk> 6 c . 30 ) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan ( including what is now Bangladesh ) with effect from 15 August 1947 , and granted complete legislative authority upon the respective constituent assemblies of the new countries . The Act received royal assent on 18 July 1947 . 
