Ratan Tata, one of India’s most influential business leaders, was cremated Thursday after a state funeral in the country’s financial capital. The veteran industrialist, former chairman of the $100 billion conglomerate Tata Group, died at a hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday evening at the age of 86.

No cause of death was announced.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, Tata Group and local government officials, and Tata’s relatives attended the funeral, where Mumbai Police honored him with a ceremonial gun salute. He was later cremated in an electric crematorium.

Earlier Thursday, his body was taken to Mumbai’s National Center for the Performing Arts, where thousands of people, including industrialists, state officials and some of India’s top celebrities, lined up to pay their last respects to a man seen by many as an industry legend and icon. .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Tata as a visionary leader and a compassionate and extraordinary human being.

“He provided steady leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses. At the same time, his contribution went far beyond the boardrooms,” Modi said on social media platform X.

The current chairman of the Tata Group, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, described Tata as his ‘friend, mentor and guide’.

“With an unwavering commitment to excellence, integrity and innovation, the Tata Group under his leadership has expanded its global footprint, while always staying true to its moral compass,” Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

Authorities in Maharashtra state, whose capital is Mumbai, declared a day of mourning in Tata’s honor on Thursday, with government buildings flying the national flag at half-mast.

Tata was admitted this week to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, where he was living. The Tata Group issued a statement on Monday saying there is no concern about his health and that he is undergoing check-ups for age-related medical conditions.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tata leaves an extraordinary business and philanthropic legacy and has played an important role in guiding and developing modern business leadership in India.

“He really wanted to make India better,” Pichai said on X.

Cornell University, where Tata earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture, said he was the “most generous international donor.”

“We will remember his legacy of transformative giving at Cornell,” the university said on X.

Ratan Tata joined the Tata Group in 1961 and succeeded his uncle JRD Tata as chairman after his retirement in 1991. This followed the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1990, which brought massive economic reforms and global investments into the country .

Under his leadership, the conglomerate grew significantly into a sprawling collection of nearly 100 companies, including Tata Motors, the country’s largest automaker; Tata Steel, the largest private steel company; Tata Power, and the information technology company Tata Consultancy Services. It also expanded globally with sales exceeding $100 billion at his retirement.

Tata Group employs more than 350,000 people worldwide and has a presence in more than 100 countries.

The products are ubiquitous in Indian homes and include daily essentials such as salt, tea and mineral water.

Tata Group pioneered commercial aviation in India by founding an airline in 1932 that later became Air India. The government later took over. Tata Group subsequently bought back Air India from the government in 2021. It also started a full-service airline, Vistara, with Singapore Airlines, but recently merged it with Air India.

In 2008, Tata bought the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co. for $2.3 billion. A year earlier, it acquired British steelmaker Corus for $12 billion, although the deal did not turn out well.

Tata’s Port Talbot steel mills in Wales lost 2,500 jobs despite a $654 million taxpayer-backed deal with the government.

In 2009, the company surprised the auto industry with the launch of Tata Nano, a small rear-engine vehicle that cost about 100,000 rupees (then $2,000). Ratan Tata touted the “people’s car” as a “safe, affordable all-weather form of transportation” for millions of middle- and lower-income Indian consumers.

However, due to low sales, the company stopped production of the small car in 2018.

Tata was also widely known for his charitable work in multiple areas including healthcare, education, skill development, disaster relief and rehabilitation under the Tata Trusts, India’s largest private sector philanthropic organisation, which he headed until his death.

In December 2012, Tata retired as chairman of Tata Group. From October 2016, he briefly served as interim chairman following the ouster of his successor, Cyrus Mistry. He returned to retirement in 2017 when Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman of Tata Group. But he was still known as a father figure to the group.

Tata never married and is survived by two brothers and two sisters.

Sharma writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.