Rana was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours, for his contribution to the economic regeneration of the city of Belfast. Rana has set up a charitable trust of Rs. 50 million for a school and a college named Taxila, in his native village Sanghol, near Chandigarh, India. The new college has collaborative links with the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The university conferred an honorary doctorate on Rana who led a delegation of academics from the university to India to explore educational partnerships and help develop university links between India and Northern Ireland.