The 75-year-old president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) died in a hospital in his hometown of Kolkata after falling critically ill with a heart condition last week.
"The greatest sports administrator of India has passed away, an era ends," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said on Twitter.
His death triggered an outpouring of tributes, including from the legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"My thoughts are with the family of Shri Jagmohan Dalmiya in this hour of grief. May Shri Dalmiya's soul rest in peace," Modi said on Twitter.
"Worked hard for the game of cricket and excelled as an administrator," Tendulkar wrote on Twitter.
Dalmiya, who was also a former head of the International Cricket Council, presided over a dramatic increase in India's financial muscle during previous stints at the helm of the BCCI after negotiating mega broadcast deals.
He returned to the post of BCCI president in March but was subsequently dogged by health problems and had been absent from a number of recent board meetings.
Dalmiya was unceremoniously dumped by the BCCI in 2004 over allegations of financial irregularities but made a comeback earlier this year after his predecessor Narayanaswami Srinivasan was forced out by a corruption scandal.
He first shot to fame when he, along with bureaucrat Inderjit Singh Bindra, broke Australia and England's hold on the ICC to win the right to host the 1987 and 1996 World Cups on the sub-continent.
He went on to become ICC president from 1997-2000 and BCCI president from 2001 to 2004.
