Newspaper Roundup

ECONOMIC TIMES (www.economictimes.com)

* The Indian government may lift restrictions on the supply of indigenously produced liquefied petroleum gas for use in automobiles.

* Mumbai-based Hiranandani group plans to list on London's Alternative Investment Market to raise between $500-750 million to fund real estate projects. * Investment firm Blackrock-Merrill Lynch and Indian electronics firm Videocon Industries Ltd. are believed to have bought shares worth nearly $100 million in a pre-initial public offering placement of Cairn India, an arm of Cairn Energy Plc. .

BUSINESS STANDARD (www.business-standard.com)

* State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd. plans to float an overseas subsidiary to pursue its foreign expansion plans.

* Ashok Leyland Ltd. has lined up investments worth 52.50 billion rupees to increase production capacity over a period of 4-5 years.

FINANCIAL EXPRESS (www.financialexpress.com)

* LSI Logic Corp. has bought Metta Technology Inc. for about $7 million in cash. Metta develops multimedia system-on-chip technology and related software for consumer electronics products.

* China's Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. <600031.ss> plans to invest 3 billion rupees in Maharashtra. The company manufactures and sells engineering construction machinery.

TIMES OF INDIA (www.timesofindia.com)

* The Indian government is planning to buy shares in State Bank of India held by the central bank for 290 billion rupees.

* The Indian government is likely to reduce luxury tax for the hospitality industry and sales tax on aviation turbine fuel. This has been planned to boost the tourism industry.