The Birla industrial conglomerate, a household name for more than a century, is rooted in the old and the new India, spanning British India, the disastrous era of protectionist socialism in the first 45 years of independence and the introduction of economic liberalisation that has transformed a puny economy into a world player.

The man who started the business empire is part of Indian political and industrial history, Ghanshyam Das Birla. The man substantially responsible for taking that work into the stratosphere was Krishna Kumar Birla, a quiet-spoken, erudite, religious man with — for a tycoon — an uncommon interest in business ethics.

Known everywhere by the respectful Babu, meaning “boss” or “brother”, he was part of the massive expansion of the Birla empire in every corner of the Indian economy, including sugar, fertiliser production, heavy engineering, media and shipping. A famous flagship of the company, although economically irrelevant to it, is the Delhi-based Hindustan Times, one of India’s biggest dailies.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, said that Birla was among the “greatest industrial leaders India has produced”.

The name Birla, like Tata, is part of the fabric of India. It is also intimately associated with Mahatma Gandhi, with whom Birla was close. Indeed, Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life at the Birla mansion in Delhi, Birla House, where he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic while walking to his daily public prayer meeting. For years the Birla family had given vital practical and financial assistance to Gandhi. In 1971 the Indian Government acquired Birla House, renamed it Gandhi Smriti (“Gandhi Remembrance”), preserved Gandhi’s room as it was when he died and erected the Martyr’s Column on the spot where he was shot.

This association with Gandhi continued throughout Krishna Kumar Birla’s life, and for 18 consecutive years he represented the Congress Party — Gandhi’s party — in the indirectly elected Rajhya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament. From there he criticised the economic policies of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who refused to unravel the “licence raj” that empowered bureaucrats at all levels to stifle, bully and extort.

Manmohan Singh, who as Finance Minister helped to drag India out of the protectionist era, drew heavily on Birla’s support, while smaller industrialists fought to keep the old system for fear of competition from abroad. “Many business leaders were worried about the changes,” the Prime Minister said last December in launching Birla’s autobiography, Brushes with History. “But Birla understood the importance and relevance of what we were doing.” Penguin, publisher of the memoirs, said that Birla inherited a legacy in which the creation of wealth, philanthropy and political leadership were all regarded as part of nation-building.

Years earlier, along with another powerful second-generation industrialist, the late J. R. D. Tata (obituary December 6, 1993), Birla had coauthored the “Bombay Plan” outlining the role of businesses and government in building a nation. It emphasised corporate social responsibility in developing what was then a severely impoverished India.

This ethical approach to business was a hallmark of Birla. His desire to spread around some of his spectacular wealth led him into many fields of philanthropy, but education and culture were his main interests. One of his most important legacies beyond business was the expansion of the Birla Institute of Science and Technology in Rajasthan, started by his father and now rated on a par with the older and respected Indian Institute of Technology.

He also established the K. K. Birla Foundation to conduct research into subjects related to science, history and culture. It gives awards for excellence in the arts, philosophy, literature, sport and scientific research. He also founded the K. K. Birla Academy of Scientific, Historical and Cultural Research, which is planning to set up a scientific museum. His foundations are especially generous in promoting literature in Hindi and Sanskrit.

Birla expanded the International Centre of Excellence, set up in Rajasthan by his father, to a campus in Dubai, apart from ones in Goa and Hyderabad. He was deeply concerned with religion, and the landmark Lakshmi Narayan temple in Delhi is commonly called Birla Mandir because everybody knows where it originated.

For years Birla was the leading force behind the creation of a sugar industry in India and, among many institutions he headed, he ran the Indian Sugar Mills Association. His empire covered dozens of companies, among them some of the country’s biggest, with household names such as Sutlej Industries, Birla Textile Mills, Oud Sugar Mills and India Steamship.

With such a workload he developed a habit not especially common to India: he was always on time. Dressed in Savile Row suits, he spoke softly and quickly, and once the appointed time of the interview was over — sometimes a precise eight or 12 minutes — he was gone.

The tycoon spent much of his time in later years travelling with his wife, Manorama Devi, and he often sent reminiscences of his voyages to the Hindustan Times for publication. They were a readable if inappropriate indulgence from the paper’s owner. Manorama Devi predeceased him by one month. An associate said that he could not carry on without her. A fortnight after her death he contracted pneumonia from which he died. He was cremated on the banks of the Hooghly river in Calcutta.

Birla is survived by three daughters.

Krishna Kumar Birla, business tycoon and philanthropist, was born on October 12, 1918. He died on August 30, 2008, aged 89