Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata, former chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group, dies at 86 and is cremated after a funeral attended by thousands.

Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who put a staid and sprawling Indian conglomerate on the global stage with a string of high-profile acquisitions, has died, the Tata Group said in a statement late on Wednesday. He was 86.

Ratan Tata, a former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday night. He was 86. Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran confirmed Tata's death and described him in a statement as his "friend, mentor, and guide." He did not provide a cause of death.