Hari Shankar Singhania, president of the JK Organisation business group and a leading industrialist of the country, died late Friday night at his residence in Delhi. He was 81. "Singhania had not been in good health and was not attending office for the last two months. He passed away peacefully while in sleep,"  said a member of the family.

Singhania, a Padma Bhushan awardee, was born in Kanpur on June 20, 1933 and later shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. He was instrumental in diversifying the JK Organisation since 1951.

Apart from being the president of FICCI, he was the second Indian and third Asian to be the president of International Chamber of Commerce (Paris). In 2005, Singhania was awarded one of the highest Swedish awards--Royal Order of the Polar Star for his contribution to the development of Indo-Swedish business relations.

The cremation will take place today at 3.30 pm on Saturday at Nigambodh Ghat, New Delhi.