The init process is started and reads the /etc/default/init file to set any environment variables. By default, only the TIMEZONE variable is set.
Then, init reads the inittab file and does the following:
Executes any process entries that have sysinit in the action field so that any special initializations can take place before users login.
Passes the startup activities to svc.startd.
For a detailed description of how the init process uses the inittab file, see init(1M).