Ratan Tata is cremated with full state honours in Mumbai

The funeral has taken place in Mumbai of Ratan Tata, the previous chairman of one in every of India’s greatest conglomerates, Tata Group, who died on Wednesday aged 86.

Enterprise leaders, politicians and celebrities have been amongst 1000’s of people that paid their final respects on the centre the place his physique lay in state earlier than being cremated.

Maharashtra state declared a day of mourning and his coffin was given a army salute because it was taken away for the funeral rites.

Ratan Tata took over as group chairman in 1991 and is credited with remodeling it into a world powerhouse.

Hundreds turned up on the Nationwide Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai, the place Ratan Tata’s physique was taken within the morning, to pay their respects.

His casket was wrapped within the Indian flag and coated with wreaths of white flowers.

Fellow enterprise tycoon Mukesh Ambani, House Minister Amit Shah and Bollywood star Aamir Khan have been amongst these current to say goodbye.

Additionally in attendance was Ratan Tata’s canine, Goa, accompanied by two Tata workers. The canine was rescued from the streets of Goa state, which gave it its title.

The tycoon, who had a repute for being modest and shy, was recognized for his philanthropic work, together with animal welfare, well being and training.

Tata’s loss of life was introduced on Wednesday night time. He had been admitted to hospital earlier within the week.

“His legacy will proceed to encourage us as we try to uphold the ideas he so passionately championed,” an organization assertion stated.

The Tata Group is one in every of India’s largest firms, with annual revenues in extra of $100bn (£76.5bn), and he was one in every of India’s most internationally-recognised enterprise leaders.

Based 155 years in the past, the group straddles a enterprise empire starting from Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Metal, to aviation and salt pans.

Throughout his 20-year tenure, the conglomerate made a number of high-profile acquisitions, together with the takeover of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, UK-based automotive manufacturers Jaguar and Land Rover, and Tetley, the world’s second-largest tea firm.

A few of these selections paid off, whereas others – together with a failed telecom enterprise and the Nano, which was billed because the world’s most cost-effective automotive however flopped – misplaced cash.

Tata was born in a conventional Parsi household in 1937. He studied structure and structural engineering at Cornell College within the US.

In 1962, he joined Tata Industries – the promoter firm of the group – as an assistant and spent six months coaching at an organization plant in Jamshedpur.

From there, he went on to work on the Tata Iron and Metal Firm (now Tata Metal), Tata Consultancy Providers (TCS) and Nationwide Radio and Electronics (Nelco).

In 1991, JRD Tata, who had led the group for over half a century, appointed Ratan Tata as his successor. “He [JRD Tata] was my biggest mentor… he was like a father and a brother to me – and never sufficient has been stated about that,” Tata later instructed an interviewer.

In 2008, the Indian authorities awarded him the Padma Vibhushan, the nation’s second-highest civilian honour.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Tata as a “visionary enterprise chief, a compassionate soul and a unprecedented human being”.