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.

The body of Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose death has sparked outpourings of grief at home and accolades from abroad, was cremated on Sunday on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi with full state honours.

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.