Manmohan Singh, who has died aged 92, was the technocrat behind the economic reforms that led to India’s emergence as a world power, first as finance minister and latterly as prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014.

I T IS FITTING that Manmohan Singh, who unshackled Indian trade and industry as the country’s finance minister in 1991, was the son of an importer. His father’s firm in Peshawar brought dry fruit and spices to India from Afghanistan.

India has mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, with a state funeral in Delhi. Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India's economic liberalisation.