By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday condoled the death of noted industrialist Krishna Kumar Birla, calling him one of India’s greatest industrial leaders.
“Birla’s contribution to the development of our country is immense. His was a multifaceted personality,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“He ranks among the greatest industrial leaders that India has produced. His efforts for the promotion of technical education and Hindi literature in the country received wide acclaim. He set up the K.K. Birla Foundation for the promotion of Hindi literature.”
The prime minister said the passing away of the industrialist was a great loss to our country and that he had left behind a void that would be difficult to fill. “Everything he did was touched with compassion and understanding.”
Releasing the autobiography of the noted industrialist last year, Manmohan Singh had recalled how Birla was at ease with change and had supported economic reforms of the early 1990s that dispensed with the regime of licences and quotas.
“There were many business leaders who were worried, who were apprehensive, who were nervous about the changes,” recollected Manmohan Singh, who as India’s finance minister then was the architect of the reforms programme.
“But Birla understood the importance and the relevance of what we were doing and I valued his support then as I value it now,” the prime minister recalled, while releasing Birla’s autobiography – “Brushes with History”.