Indian industrialist Ratan Tata retires on his 75th birthday this week, handing over the reins of his sprawling business empire after decades at the top of the country's turbulent corporate world. Ratan Tata has been credited with transforming the Tata group into a streamlined conglomerate of more than 100 companies and earning a global reputation for eye-catching purchases of Western firms.

With a portfolio ranging from salt and software to tea and telecoms, Tata is India's largest group, and new boss Cyrus Mistry faces a challenge as the first chief appointed from outside the immediate Tata family in its 144-year history. "I have devoted my life, as best I could, to the welfare of the group," Tata said ahead of his retirement on Friday. The highly-respected, media-shy mogul, who spent 50 years with the company, is likely to mark his last day at the helm in the unassuming manner in which he took over from his uncle J.R.D. Tata in 1991.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012