Ratan Tata's last rites performed with state honours

Corporate leaders, politicians and celebrities joined hundreds of people on Thursday as they bid final adieu to one of India's most respected and internationally recognised business leaders, Ratan Tata, who died aged 86.

Last rites were performed at Mumbai's Worli Crematorium with full state honours in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, and Congress leader and former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Family and friends as well as top officials of Tata group joined the ceremony where Mumbai Police paid tribute to Tata with a gun salute.

Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who transformed a staid group into India's largest and most influential conglomerate with a string of eye-catching deals breathed his last at south Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital at 11.30 pm on October 9.

Maharashtra as well as half a dozen other states declared one day mourning while some official programmes, including a scheduled press conference by Goyal on his US visit, were cancelled in his honour.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, Congress leader and former CM Sushilkumar Shinde, among others, were also present.

The last rites were performed as per the Parsi tradition, one of the priests present at the crematorium said.

After the funeral, there will be three more days of rituals which will be conducted at the late industrialist's bungalow in Colaba, south Mumbai, he said.

Ratan Tata's mortal remains were taken on their final journey to the electric crematorium at Worli.

While traditionally Zoroastrian community lay their departed ones for the vultures to consume at the 'Tower of Silence', Tata's cremation reflected changing traditions in the Parsi community.

The dwindling vulture population is leading to the community taking their dead to the electrical crematoriums.

The Prayer Hall at the Worli municipal crematorium offers a place for the death rites of Parsi-Zoroastrians who do not want to be interred in the Tower of Silence.

Known for his exemplary business acumen and philanthropic nature, Tata had led the salt-to-software conglomerate for more than two decades during which the group grew more than 70 times.

The Tata conglomerate had revenue of $165 billion in 2023-24.

Tributes poured in from around the world, underlining his popularity that transcended boundaries and generations.

A licensed pilot who occasionally flew the company plane, Tata never married and was known for his relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work.

As chairman for more than two decades, he took the staid group global, clinching eye-catching deals, including iconic British assets like steelmaker Corus, luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and world's second-largest tea company Tetley.

Tata, a Padma Vibhushan recipient, died after a brief illness at a city hospital late on Wednesday night.

• FAREWELL, Mr TATA