head lines 9 april

Economic times

UTI MF to sell stakes in L&T, ITC and Axis Bank.

Britannia to sell 22 acre property in Chennai to HCL.

Committee of sectaries clears proposal to shift royalty rates from the present specific duty to ad volarem rates.
Indian Railways to offer 74% stake to private players in various JV related to work for the dedicated freight corridors.

Reliance Industries to rethink on its proposed foray into fertilizer business.
Steel makers Tata Steel, Essar Steel, SAIL and Ispat to consider levying raw material surcharge of Rs5,000 per ton on HR coil.

Hindu Business Line

ONGC to buyback Cairn’s 30% stake in Cambay block.
Nitin Fire formally acquires 40% in Dubai company New Age.
C&C Construction wins Rs5,740mn order by Jaiprakash Associates.
Ucal Fuel buys out Mikuni Corporation’s 26% stake.
Vakrangee Software scouting for a software product firm.
Sonata Software to set up new facility in Bangalore in the Global Village SEZ.
Dolphin Offshore gets L1 for Gujarat shipyard project.

Business standard

Reports of a possible takeover bid for Orchid Chemicals by Solrex Pharma, a company controlled by the Ranbaxy group.
Essar Group planning to merge tower arm with GTL Ltd.
Britannia Industries suspends production in Chennai to optimize cost of sourcing.
Ranbaxy gets Japanese clearance for hypertension drug amlodipine.
Areva T&D India bags orders worth Rs4.2bn from Essar Construction.
Garware Offshore to buy three tugs and two platform supply vessels for a total of US$100mn.
Spanco Telesystems plans to set up centres in China and Malaysia.
Dish TV, Tata Sky may post loss of Rs14bn for FY08.
The clinical research division of Suven Lifesciences enters in a pact with Chinese contract research firm for clinical trials.
Subex awarded contract from Fintur group to deliver fraud management solutions.
United Spirits denies talks of stake sale.
Tata Chemicals launched the constructicn of its first bio-ethanol plant.

Government approves extension of CAS in a phased manner.
Finance Ministry approves Rs500bn plan for power transmission reforms.

Mint

Hero Honda opened its third factory in Haridwar and said it would invest additional Rs1.5bn.

L&T wins Rs16.9bn worth contracts for building water supply pipelines and steel plants.
Environmental groups oppose World Bank funding for Tata’s coal fired power plant in Mundra.
PTC India ties up with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency to promote renewable energy power plants.
Parsvnath to set up 370-acre pharma SEZ.
Government to allow Dollar-Rupee futures soon.
India allows duty free imports from poor African countries.
Telecom Minister may release start-up radio frequency to new telecom players in next two days.

Financial Express

Opto Circuit acquires majority stake in Criticare Systems Inc.
Carburettors to acquire entire 26% equity stake of Ucal Fuel held by co-promoter Mikuni Corporation of Japan.
State Trading Corporation invites tenders for purchase of Urea on long term basis at a discount on fare market price.
Government clears 20 FDI proposals.
State government to keep VAT unchanged on intermediate goods to compensate for losses from reduction in central sales tax.
State government to levy a 4% VAT on imports beginning this fiscal.
Provision of clause 49 of listing agreement modified, half the Board to be independent if promoters or his relative is a non-executive chairman.
SEBI to introduce electronic version of defunct Stockinvest instrument to subscribe to IPO’s.

Headlines for 2nd april

Financial Express

TCS to set up Global engineering centre in Pune.

Tata’s AMC partners with UK-based New Star to extend benefit of investing in Indian equity markets.

Finance Minister extends service tax refund on three more export related services.

Twenty-eight companies lined up for developing and running two coal blocks of MahaGuj Collieries Ltd in Orrisa.

Airline Companies set to hike fares following an increase in jet fuel prices.

Business Standard

The IT department gives MTNL Rs13.95bn refund.

Cairn India to raise US$250mn loan from IFC.

Maruti’s vehicle sales decline by 2% yoy in March 2008 to 70,296 units.

Novartis challenges National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) over Voveran price fixing.

Bharti Airtel successfully tests 3G applications with various equipment suppliers.

Provogue sells 27% stake in real estate arm for Rs4,570mn.

Emaar MGF lines up US$400mn for four hotels in a tie-up with Marriott.

Arvind Brands, the apparel and retail division of Arvind Mills, plans to open multi-brand outlets.

Government to tell steel manufacturers to cut prices by 10-20% in a month.

Merchandise exports grow by 35% during February 2008.

Hindu Business Line

Tata Motors vehicle sales up 6% yoy in March 2008 to 66,495 units.

M&M auto sales up 20% yoy and tractor sales up 8% in March 2008.

Reliance Petroleum to raise US$500mn.

Bajaj Auto plans to launch four new 125cc motorcycles in FY09.

Reorganisation of Glenmark Pharma’s business into speciality and generics has been implemented.

Cairn India’s Bhagyam field development gets clearance.

Bosch Chassis withdraws delisting plans.

Great Offshore buys back shares not exceeding Rs750 per share.

DLF and Hilton Hotels sign management pacts for seven new hotel developments in the pipeline.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports’ new plant in Uttrakhand goes onstream.

General insurance industry posts 12% growth April 2007-February 2008.

Indian Railways has awarded Bharti Airtel to provide services to its 100,000 employees.

Economic Times

Videocon likely bid to acquire the hand-set business of Motorola.

Reliance Industries strikes new gas in Krishna Basin.

DLF in talks with The Central Group, Thailand for an alliance.

Ranbaxy Labs to acquire UK business of Dowpharma Small Molecules, a unit of Dow Chemical.

Tata’s likely to secure GSM spectrum on a Pan-India basis, under the dual technology license.

IOB ties up with Annapurna, Pune for micro lending.

Government may allow Sugar mills to sell 2mn tons freely in the local market.

Underwriting to become mandatory for all IPO’s.

DoT plans to allot start-up spectrum to nine new telecom license holders by April-end.

The Communication Ministry approves TRAI’s recommendation to let service providers share active infrastructure.

Exports record a surge of 35% in February 2008 to US$14.23bn.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulator Board says city gas distribution to be awarded on the basis of network tariff, CNG compression charge and length of pipeline proposed to be laid.

Reliance Money enters into agreement with Canadian firm, Recognia to offer technical analysis and price forecasting services.

MINT

Gail signs contract to sell total gas produced in PMT fields.
Essel Propack buys a US medical devices firm in an all cash deal.

PowerGrid will add 11% power lines in 2008.

Airlines opt for differential pricing after fuel price hike.

Rates for 192 drugs fixed; that for 35 others revised.

Headlines of 1Apr

Economic Times

RPL and Chevron Corp have mandated a consortium of six international banks to raise US$500mn.

Cairn India is still in talks with the Government about the financing of a pipeline to transport crude from its key Mangala field in Rajasthan.

The Government is considering a cut in import duty to contain steel prices.

Power Finance Corporation has floated a wholly-owned consultancy arm to provide services in the power sector.

RIL believes a 38.1mn cubic feet a day gas find in one of its east coast blocks is commercially viable and will submit an appraisal plan soon.

Ranbaxy Laboratories is selling the oral liquid manufacturing unit to its Romanian subsidiary, Terapia.

Wipro is setting up an 80-acre facility in Chennai by investing Rs7bn.

France’s Pernod Ricard has won the auction to buy the maker of Sweden’s Absolut vodka for US$8.9bn.

Dubai-based Arab Digital Distribution has won a 10-year contract for exclusive coverage rights for the IPL T20 tournament.

ArcelorMittal South Africa has announced another hike in the alloy's price that will come into effect from May 1.

Vijaya Bank has exceeded its business target for 2007-08 with a growth of more than 25%.

Kanoria Chemicals will spend Rs1.25bn on an alcohol-based chemicals plant in Visakhapatnam over 21 months.

Business Standard

Sabare International, a Karur-based home furnishings company, has taken ICICI Bank to court over a foreign exchange derivative contract.

To fund its Jaguar Land Rover buyout, Tata Motors, is preparing to divest stake in two of its 100% owned business units HV Axel and HV Transmission.

ICICI Bank may sell 12% in broking arm for Rs36bn. Goldman, Morgan, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Nomura among others are in the race.

Gammon India has clinched the Rs3.4bn re-densification project to build a Central Business District in a prime business locality of Bhopal.

ICSA will soon acquire two T&D sector companies with front-end marketing capabilities in the US and Europe.

Dabur is banking on the country’s rural and semi-urban areas for growth in the baby care segment.

Nitco Tiles is planning to open 12 Le Studio showrooms and 120 Le Express in next 18 months and is targeting revenue of Rs20bn by FY10.

Alembic is all set to bag a US$25-30mn manufacturing contract from a multinational company.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports is set to invest around Rs850mn in two different ventures, a soybean processing plant and its mandi venture.

To counter rising inflation, government has scrapped import duties on all crude edible oil forms, while cutting duties on refined edible oils and hydrogenated vegetable fats to 7.5%.

Cement companies are set to raise the prices of the building material by Rs3-5 per 50 kg on the back of rising input costs and higher demand.

In a move that will lower the bill of the five-million DTH consumers by 5-8%, Trai has asked channels to reduce rates by April 4.

The Government has extended till further notice the DEPB used by exporters to remit duties on exported products.

The country’s sugar production is estimated to decline about 10% this year due to low yield and a late start to the crushing season (Oct-Sept).

New deposits of coal, iron ore, bauxite and limestone have been discovered in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh.

Hindu Business Line

Sun Pharma’s US arm Caraco has been asked to withdraw batches of generic Metformin, used to treat diabetes, on grounds of efficacy.

Cipla is set to sell its generic version of Deferasirox, a once-a-day oral iron chelator used to treat iron overload.

The GMR group is in the race for a 50% stake in InterGen, a US-based power company with plants in five countries.

Four Soft expects the merger of the company with Take Solutions to be completed within two months.

Country Club India is all set to expand its horizon through acquisition of properties in Dubai and Bangkok.

DNA

Havells India plans to enter electric motors business.

The Government is likely to raise the statutory minimum price

MINT

PSA Corp., owned by Temasek Holdings plans to acquire 49% in ABG Kandla Container Terminal from ABG Infralogistics for Rs2.4bn.

An ICICI Venture Funds Management Co., RFCL has acquired Bremer Pharma GmbH, a German veterinary care company.

Financial EXPRESS

For sugarcane to over Rs120per quintal for the 2008-09 season.

CERC has ruled that the transmission charges for the existing regional inter-state transmission system would continue to be pooled and shared by the regional beneficiaries as per the existing practice.

RIL has invited EoI for the development of its gas discoveries in the KG-DWN-98/3 deepwater block.

Head lines of 30march

Economic Times

Marks & Spencer is likely to hold majority stake in Reliance Retail joint venture.
Power Grid Corp has signed agreements with World Bank and Asian Development Bank for two loans of US$600mn each for funding projects.
The Netherlands-based Pearle Europe is entering into a 50:50 JV partnership with Reliance Retail to sell optical products.
Tata Motors’ credit rating has been downgraded following its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover by Crisil.
The DoT has approved the Tata Teleservices–Virgin alliance.
Oil marketing companies (IOC, HPCL and BPCL) debt may swell to Rs700bn in the current fiscal.
HUL has shelved plans to sell its 28acre land in Brooke fields, Bangalore.
JetLite will soon start air services between Delhi and Islamabad.

Business Standard

Tata Power is evaluating opportunities to make another overseas acquisition of a coal mine.
IDBI has deferred its earlier decision to cut benchmark PLR by 50 basis points.
Ispat Industries to increase its steel capacity to 10 mtpa by 2014.
GSPC has sought about one-tenth of the gas produced from Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields (PMT) for sale to customers in Gujarat.

Four Soft and Take Solutions, providers of IT products and solutions in the supply chain management (SCM) space to merge.
Welspun Gujarat secured an order for supply of spiral pipes worth Rs10.8bn in Northern Africa.
Hinduja Group in talks with Europe’s third-largest auto component manufacturer Valeo SA to buy a controlling stake in the company at around US$1.5bn.
Bhushan Steel to give free land to land-losers as a part of its rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package.

Hindu Business Line

Bharat Oman Refineries' IPO is likely to hit the market in the second quarter of the coming fiscal.
Nagarjuna Fertilizers has completely exited from the inter-state mega power project under construction in Udupi, Karnataka, selling its 26% stake to the Lanco group.
Shareholders of Ispat Industries approved the issue of convertible warrants to the tune of Rs5.1bn to the promoters of the company.
Indian Oil is mulling transportation of crude through pipeline from the upcoming SPM at Paradip in Orissa.
Bata India recorded a PAT of Rs0.5bn, up from the Rs0.4bn last year, on a turnover of Rs8.9bn for the year ended December, 2007.
GSPC defers IPO due to market uncertainties, to come out with the IPO of Rs40-60bn before Diwali.
Electrotherm to raise Rs3bn via QIP route.
KMB-ERA JV, of which Era Infra Engineering Ltd is a partner, has secured a contract from Delhi Metro valued at Rs1.5bn.

Financial Express

The Supreme Court has asked Posco to approach the Orissa government for allotting demarcated mining area for its proposed Rs510bn steel plant.
HDFC Bank to move its BPO activity to the semi-urban area by hiring about 2,000 people in next two months.
DLF will spend US$5bn in the next seven years to build about 125 hotels in the world’s fastest-growing tourist destination.

DNA

Gujarat NRE Coke is planning to invest US$425mn in the next three years to develop its mines.
DLF Assets plans to raise more than US$2bn in a private stock sale to buy office properties.
Diamond Cables has raised Rs1bn as debt to meet its working capital requirement.
Morgan Stanley has increased its stake in S Kumars to over 7% for Rs1bn.

TOI

Havells will invest Rs4bn for increasing its capacities in India.
Ispat Industries is all set to acquire in a cluster of coal and iron ore mines in Colombia, Mozambique and
Dena Bank will write-off Rs2bn under the loan waiver packaged announced in the Union budget.

MINT

Reliance Energy has bagged two contracts worth about Rs12bn for execution of transmission system in the Western region.
Tata Power plans to sell stakes in holding companies and assets to help fund its US$6bn capacity expansion plans.
Lok Capital LLC has raised US$22mn from institutional investors to fund micro-finance institutions in India.
Finance Ministry examining Essar Power’s $2 billion FDI proposal.
BPCL says it can no longer absorb the losses it suffers on account of having to sell petroleum products at a government-mandated price.

HEADLINES

BUSINESS STANDRED

Reliance Power to place Rs100bn equipment order for its power plants.

Ultratech to add 15mn tonne capacity by September.

Parsvnath Developers’ CFO quits on differences with the management.

Bharat Forge is eying 40% of revenues from non-automotive components in 3-4 years.

Prime Securities sets aside Rs230mn as a provision for losses suffered on investments during the recent market crash.

FINANCAIL EXPRESS

Government relaxes Rs10bn equity investment cap on NTPC in a JV or subsidiary set up to bid for power projects.

Firstsource Solutions is looking at healthcare industry for diversification.

Jindal India Thermal Power signs a MoU with MP Government for setting up a 2,000 MW coal-based power plant.

Finance Minister admits to a lower GDP growth rate of near 8% in 2008-09.

TRAI proposes abolition of access deficit charge (ADC) wef April 1st 2008.

The Government is planning to ask iron ore producers to check prices.

ECONOMIC TIMES

Reliance Industries and BG group have sought 5mmsmd of gas produced from Panna-Mukta-Tapti gas fields before entering any agreement with Gail.

Maruti Suzuki to hike capacity to 1mn units by October; two years ahead of earlier schedule.

HCL Technologies' infrastructure deal with Bear Stearns could be in trouble.

Power Finance Corporation and RITES sign a MoU to jointly import coal.

The Government is planning to liberalise FDI norms in real estate by waiving two conditions; three year lock-in on foreign investment and the requirement of at least US$5mn investment in case of JVs.

DTH operators have approached TRAI asking it to fix the price that they have to pay to the broadcasters.

The Government temporarily suspends export subsidy under the DEPB scheme on steel.

DNA

India Cements to spend Rs20.1bn to boost capacity to about 14mtpa by December.

UB has invested Rs700mn for a vineyard on 350 acres at Baramati.

MINT

Dabur India has earmarked US$200mn for overseas acquisitions.

HINDU BUSNIESS LINE

Allahabad Bank cuts PLR as well as home loan rates by 25 bps effective next month.

Volvo India to launch six car models in phases.

Japanese automaker Suzuki is likely to set up engineering and design work in India.

The Government projects 30% growth in exports in dollar terms in 2008-09.

Daimler gets Government nod for Rs16.5bn JV with Hero Group.

Tata Tea to increase prices across all its seven brands.

Hindustan Zinc cuts zinc product prices by Rs5,200/tonne.

HEAD LINES

Business standard

1. Tata Motors has signed a deal to buy luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from Ford for US$2.3bn in cash.
2. Tatas to get approval to make an eco-car from the Thailand’s Board of Investment.
3. Religare Enterprises to buy a London-based broking firm, for ~Rs7bn.
4. DLF to add Ferragamo to luxury brand portfolio.
5. TRAI to fix prices of pay channels on the DTH platform in line with the Rs5 per channel cap on CAS.
6. Government to talk to iron ore exporters for raw material security.
7. Gujarat NRE Coke plans to set up coke oven flu gas power plants in its production facilities.

Economic Times

1. SEBI Board will take up listing norms for corporate bonds in the next board meeting.
2. Withdrawal of income tax holiday for refinery may hit three government refinery projects.
3. Cabinet to take up DPEB extension today.
4. The CAG has recommended the closer of 12 state PSUs on account of the poor turnover and continuous losses.
5. Maharashtra Government will not take further action for three months with regards to land declared as private forest.
6. Government to create a debt relief fund to provide liquidity to bank for implementing the Rs600bn loan waiver package.
7. Government still wary of easing ECB curbs.
8. Pfizer has filed two law suits to block Ranbaxy's generic version of Lipitor and Caduet.
9. RCOM and TCS to enter last leg of bid for setting up 12,000 common service centres across the country.
10. Alok Infra, a subsidiary of Alok Industries, to raise $100mn through a PE fund.

Hindu Business Line

1. ONGC, along with its partner the Hinduja Group, to sign an initial agreement to develop two huge oil and gas fields in Iran.
2. IDBI reduces its benchmark prime lending rate by 50 basis points to 12.75% from 13.25%.
3. KS Oils has acquired 50,000 acres of palm plantation in Indonesia with an investment of Rs2.3bn.
4. ITC stops non-filtered cigarette production.
5. Ashok Leyland has recently concluded an ECB program of US$200mn.
6. Tata Teleservices has partnered with PayMate to enable Tata Indicom customers to book domestic flight tickets.
7. DoT may agree to allow niche operators specifically for providing services in the rural sector.
8. Cabinet nod for farm debt relief fund today.
9. India's crude oil production increased 2.3% yoy and natural gas output rose 4.7% yoy in February.
10. Idea Cellular to extend its network to cover 3,000 towns and 30,000 villages by the end of the year.
11. Indian refiners February oil processing grew 5.8% on yoy basis.

Mint

1. TRAI is looking to reduce a fee charged by telcos from other telcos.