Many in the one-time Indian capital are mourning a vanishing emblem of its faded grandeur: a hulking and noisy fleet of stately yellow taxis. Here's a look at Kolkata's yellow taxi's in pictures

The snub-nosed Hindustan Ambassador, first rolling off the assembly line in the 1950s with a design that barely changed

Only around 2,500 Ambassador taxis were still working at the start of this year, down from 7,000 a year earlier

Another 1,000 will be retired this year, and West Bengal state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty told AFP that the remainder will be gone by the end of 2027.

Kolkata, the headquarters of Hindustan Motors, is the last place where the cars are seen in any great number -- a reminder of the tethers binding the city to India's past.

Their disappearance, a driver added, represents all that's wrong with India's changing economy