India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who steered the country through sweeping reforms and paved the way for its emergence as a global economic powerhouse, has died. He was 92.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his respects to the former prime minister on Friday (December 27) as the country began a seven-day period of mourning for its “reluctant king”, a title the soft-spoken Singh earned during his first stint as the country's leader.