Daily News Roundup - Nov 11 2008

Reliance Industries’ gas and new refinery projects may miss deadline; likely to be commissioned in January 2009. (ET)
ONGC plans to enter into a JV with the Uranium Corporation. (FE)
Gujarat Government has offered a loan of Rs95.7bn at 0.1% simple rate of interest to Tatas’ Nano project. (ET)
A consortium between L&T and Malaysian firm Scomi International has bagged the Rs24.6bn monorail project. (ET)
SBI is demanding a higher monthly fee (Rs5 per Rs1,000 deposited against current Rs1.5) for collecting provident fund deposits.. (ET)
The Petroleum Ministry may reconsider the US$2.6bn acquisition deal of the Russia-focused British oil company Imperial Energy Plc by ONGC. (FE)
DLF has put on hold construction of one of the most high-profile mall projects, ‘Mall of India’ at Gurgaon. (ET)
The Andhra Pradesh government to restructure the equity pattern of the Krishna-Godavari Gas Network to include Reliance Gas Corporation, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, as a majority partner of the consortium. (BS)
Satyam Computer Services has acquired US mobile phone-maker Motorola's software development centre in Malaysia for an undisclosed sum. (BS)
Bharat Forge defers rights offer, buts plans debenture issue. (BS)
Karnataka will have a right over usage of 1,000MW of power from the 2,000MW thermal power project it is setting up as a JV with NTPC. (BS)
Reliance Infrastructure has bought back 1,600,000 equity shares in less than two weeks. (FE)
McNally board approves restructuring plans. (BS)
SBI Life Insurance has targeted a total business volume of Rs110bn during the current year. (BS)
Delhi based low cost airline IndiGo beats headwinds, plans to hire more staff. (BL)
Arcapita, ICICI Ventures and Bain Capital have expressed interest in Manipal Hospital’s renewed fund-raising plans, but at a heavily discounted valuation (~40% lower than the initial valuation). (ET)
Quantum Fund has picked up ~2% stake in GVK Power & Infrastructure for ~Rs350mn. (ET)
PowerGrid Corporation is not yet prepared to vacate spectrum for WiMax services ahead of the auction in January. (ET)
Quippo Telecom plans to raise ~Rs28bn through a combination of debt and equity to fund expansion. (ET)
Bharat Forge Ltd and Alstom Ltd will form two JV companies for manufacturing equipment for power sector. (BL)
CESC Ltd plans to invest Rs20bn over the next five years in rejuvenating its power distribution infrastructure. (BL)
FIPB rejects Keppel proposal to sell 1.5 acres unused land back to Puravankara Projects. (BL)
Elder Pharma has entered into an in-licensing tie-up with DaiwaPharmaceutical Co Ltd, Japan. (FE)
PFC plans to raise upto Rs4bn through issue of bonds this week. (FE)

RBI is examining the possibility of cutting the standard asset provisioning by banks for loans advanced to NBFCs from 2% to 0.4%. (BS)
The government on Monday issued Rs220bn worth of oil bonds to the three oil marketing companies to partly compensate them for selling fuels at below production costs. (BS)
RBI has allowed ready forward (or repo) transactions in oil bonds, a move that could enable oil companies to raise money at a cheaper rate. (ET)
RBI set to finalise special line of credit worth Rs100bn for Sidbi. (FE)
New 3G telcos have to pay 3% of their aggregate revenues to the Government for use of these airwaves. (ET)
Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) indicated that India’s exports have shrunk 15% in October. (BS)
Taxes & costing methods make Indian ATF prices highest in Asia-Pacific. (BS)
The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to issue guarantees or standby letters of credit in support of payment obligations for commodity derivative deals overseas. (BS)
Automobile sales in the festive month of October fell by 14.42%, dragging the overall sales growth of the industry in the first seven months of the current financial year to a mere 5.64%. (BS)
The government replaced the specific duty of Rs200 per ton on iron ore fines, imposed 10 days back, with an ad-valorem duty of 8%.(BS)
SMEs and services account for three-fourths of credit offtake in the last one year. (BL)
Indian Railways recorded 15.76% yoy increase in revenues during Apr-Oct’08. (FE)
The Maharashtra Government is considering waiving off VAT in housing projects. (FE)