His lying in state occurred at his official residence of 10 Rajaji Marg, New Delhi and his burial took place at his home town in Rameswaram.

The flight landed at Palam Air Base that afternoon and was received by the then President Pranab Mukherjee, the then Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, and the three service chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces, who laid wreaths on Kalam's body.

[7] His body was then placed on a gun carriage draped with the Indian flag and taken to his Delhi residence at 10 Rajaji Marg; there, the public and numerous dignitaries paid homage, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

His body was received at the airport by the three service chiefs and national and state dignitaries, including cabinet ministers Manohar Parrikar, Venkaiah Naidu, Pon Radhakrishnan and the governors of Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya, K. Rosaiah and V. Shanmuganathan.

After a brief ceremony, Kalam's body was flown by air force helicopter to the town of Mandapam, from where it was taken in an army truck to his hometown of Rameswaram.

Upon arriving at Rameswaram, his body was displayed in an open area in front of the local bus station to allow the public to pay their final respects until 8 p.m. that evening.

[11][12] India reacted to Kalam's death with an outpouring of grief; numerous tributes were paid to the former president across the nation and on social media.