Lord Noon: Ready-meal entrepreneur and philanthropist whose vast empire earned him the nickname Curry King

Gulam Noon, who has died aged 79, emerged from an impoverished upbringing in Mumbai to make his fortune in the UK – and ascend to the House of Lords.

Dubbed the “Curry King”, he headed the world's largest factory for ready-made Indian and ethnic food, which today produces 564 different recipes and prepares 2.4 million meals a week for supermarkets including Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Ocado and Waitrose, as well as for its own label. He is also credited with making chicken tikka masala Britain's favourite dish.

Despite his immense wealth, estimated at £75m, Noon never forgot his Indian roots – but was dedicated to the country that gave him his chance in life. “I always quote the prophet Muhammad – that you must be loyal to the country in which you live,” he explained. “I have always said that this is the best country in the world.” He was a supporter of numerous charities and good causes, and his philanthropy led to him being appointed a life peer, Baron Noon of St John's Wood, in January 2011.

In the aftermath of the 7 July London bombings in 2005, Noon took a hardline position against extremists. He garnered much support, when, at a meeting with other ethnic groups at Downing Street, he said that those “preaching sedition and treason” should be stripped of their British nationality and “sent back” to the country they came from. “These are monkeys who tie bombs to their chests and pull the strings,” he added. “They are kids. They have been brainwashed. The Muslim community has a responsibility to make sure that those in the business of brainwashing people are brought to book.”

However, Noon came to the public's attention for the wrong reasons in 2006, as one of the businessmen embroiled in the cash for honours scandal, when it emerged that he had loaned £250,000 to the Labour Party. The revelation by the curry magnate that he had removed reference to his loan to the Labour Party in official documentation for the House of Lords committee, which vets potential peers, was what triggered the sensational arrest of Tony Blair's chief fundraiser, Lord Levy. Noon had allegedly been told by Levy that he did not need to report the loan.

Noon, a passionate cricket fan, and a Surrey and England supporter (except when they were playing India), used cricket parlance to stress his role in events, claiming that he had played “a straight bat”. The CPS never found any evidence against those accused and no charges were ever brought.

Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon was born in 1936 to a Muslim family in a single-room house shared with eight people on the crowded Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai. His father died when he was seven. As a young teenager, Gulam studied accountancy in the mornings, spent the day at school and then worked in the family sweetshop in the evening.

Believing that he could run it better, at 17 Gulam took over the business, changing its Muslim name and rebranding it Royal Sweets. Five years later, he bought an apartment. Ten years later he had built up Royal Sweets to the point where the firm was big enough to export. In 1966, he visited London on the day England won the World Cup and was floored by the capital after seeing Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds. He also saw a market for Royal Sweets and was determined to return and start a business.

Six years later, Noon returned, leaving cousins to run the Mumbai operation, and, with £50 to his name, established a confectionery business called Bombay Halwa, selling his own “Bombay mix” in Southall, west London. In 1972, there was a huge influx of East African immigrants to Britain following Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's rise to power – and sales took off. Noon capitalised on the influx by expanding Royal Sweets' retailing network.

In 1985, after sampling Britain's tasteless supermarket curries, he realised that there was a market for the real thing. He began to research the frozen and chilled food market, and in 1988 founded Noon Products, employing 11 people in a small factory in Southall. His family suggested that he buy six vans for local distribution, but Noon had bigger ideas. He secured a contract with Birds Eye worth £2.7m and had to take on 70 more staff. Soon after, Sainsbury's placed an order for 2,000 meals a week.

Flushed with success, Noon went upmarket with a Bombay Brasserie range designed to mass-reproduce dishes from the celebrated London restaurant. By 2002, his workforce in Southall's unemployment hot spot had grown to 800 people. In 2010, with turnover at £105m, Prince Charles opened Noon's new state-of-the-art factory.

Noon's rise was not without setbacks. In 1979 a planned launch in the US was an absolute disaster, and in 1994 there was a fire which completely gutted the Southall factory. Miraculously, the company was up and running within 10 weeks without any job losses.

In 1998, the listed company WT Foods bought Noon Products for £50m, but its share price dropped sharply, so three years later, Noon, who was on the board, orchestrated a management buyout with the help of venture capital funds. By 2005, with turnover of £125m, it was sold to Irish food conglomerate Kerry Foods for £124m.

An intuitive entrepreneur, Noon started to diversify into construction, hotels, cruise liners, dietary supplements and aviation catering. In 1995 he used £4m of his own money to found the Noon Foundation, a charitable trust to assist education, medicine and cases of hardship. He served as president of the London Chamber of Commerce and sat on a number of business and charity boards, including Transport for London, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, the Prince's Trust, Care International, a trust for the education of girls in rural India and a Jewish-Muslim interfaith organisation.

Over the years, Noon contributed nearly £873,000 to the Labour Party despite having reservations about certain policies – although he did support the Iraq War.

In 2008, Noon was among those trapped in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai by Islamist terrorists. Upon being rescued he appeared on the BBC; the first person to call him was then PM Gordon Brown. The following year he published his memoirs, Noon, with a View: Courage and Integrity.

MARTIN CHILDS

Gulam Noon, entrepreneur: born Mumbai, India 24 January 1936; MBE 1996; Kt 2002; married twice (two daughters); died 27 October 2015.