Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Manchester for his contribution to innovation and philanthropy.

The UK university said that the award was presented to the 82-year-old industrialist in Mumbai recently during the India tour of President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell.

“Ratan is inspirational. For him, philanthropy and innovation are spokes of the same wheel, each leading towards the improvement of lives which is the very same ethos we share at the University of Manchester,” said Rothwell.

“He is an example to big business, small enterprise, to researchers and developers, those who give and those who can give more,” she said.