At the helm of the Escorts group for nearly five decades, Nanda will be best remembered for the long battle he fought with Swraj Paul who tried to take over Escorts in 1983.

Nanda's stature in the Indian corporate world is evident from the rich tributes paid to him by the industry. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Rajesh Shah said CII has indeed lost a very dear friend, philosopher and guide whose association with the Confederation goes back several decades.

Ficci president Sudhir Jalan said Nanda was one of the leading industrialists of the post-partition era and worked assiduously for building an industrial empire. Nanda inspired people around him and instilled in them innovative ideas and concepts, he said.

Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) president KP Singh described Nanda as ``abusinessman endowed with great vision and rare perspicacity.''

Nanda was born on January 9, 1917 in Jammu and graduated from Formen Christian College, Lahore, topping the university in Botany and Zoology. After completing his college in 1938, he entered the world of commerce.In 1944, Nanda along with his younger brother Yudhister set up Escorts (Agents) Ltd at Lahore. The company began with the representation of American multinational Westinghouse and soon added more franchises.

After three years, Nanda and his brother moved to Delhi virtually penniless in 1947, and plunged into rebuilding their businesses. Escorts soon emerged as one of independent India's leading trading houses. Gauging India's most imperative need for self-sufficiency in food, Nanda established Escorts Agricultural Machines Ltd to market tractors and farm implements in 1948.

Escorts soon emerged as a leader in the Indian tractor market by taking on the franchise of Massey Ferguson tractors and with a model marketing and servicingnetwork. His first venture in manufacturing was in 1954 -- Goetze (India) Ltd in Patiala to produce piston rings in a technical collaboration with Goetzewerke of Germany. In 1959, Escorts went public and collaborated with Mahle of Germany to set up another plant at Patiala to manufacture pistons. Having created a vast and well-knit tractor marketing network, Escorts decided to go in for manufacturing and in 1961 with technical knowhow with Ursus of Poland set up a manufacturing base in Faridabad.

The same year also witnessed the commencement of Escorts' next major industrial activity, motorcycles. Later with the addition of world-renowned brands, that is Ford tractor, in a joint venture with Ford Motor of US, and Yamaha motorcycle in collaboration with Yamaha of Japan, Escorts grew into a major industrial group of north India. In 1969, Escorts Tractors Ltd was born: a technical and financial joint venture with Ford to manufacture Ford tractors in India.