Daily News Roundup - Dec 11 2008

· ONGC plans hit, as Imperial does not renew its license to prospect oil in Kazakhstan. (ET)

· ONGC to raise Rs50bn from Indian banks to complete the acquisition of Imperial Energy. (BS)

· DLF led consortium emerges as the sole bidder for Gurgaon metro project. (BS)

· Reliance Industries to borrow US$400mn from JP Morgan Chase to purchase equipment from its US suppliers. (BS)

· DLF and Unitech may cut prices by 30% next year. (BS)

· Dr Reddy’s subsidiary may win eight drug supply contracts from AOK, Germany’s largest health insurance company. (BS)

· HCL Tech is set to conclude its £441mn acquisition of Axon Group on December 15, 2008. (ET)

· DLF to denotify IT SEZ and six other developers to cut size of their respective SEZs. (FE)

· Tata Steel to produce and sell more in the current year from its Indian operations. (FE)

· GMR Infra’s Andhra Pradesh plant starts electricity generation. (FE)

· Suzlon rejigs top management, CMD to steer company’s operations.

· Petronet LNG signs one year LNG supply agreement beginning January 2009. (DNA)

· Heineken may pay a multi year commercial fee of US$100mn to United Breweries for handling distribution and bottling of its beer brands in India. (ET)

· Ranbaxy gets reprieve in UK cartel case along with other five generic companies. (ET)

· Bombay High Court grants an injunction against Cipla to Roche over the latter’s patent of Valganciclovir. (ET)

· Credit Suisse plans to cut down outsourcing to Wipro. (ET)

· Bajaj Holding buys an additional 5% stake in Bajaj Finserve through the creeping acquisition route. (ET)

· Madras Aluminum suspends production at its aluminum plant with immediate effect. (ET)

· HCC’s Lavasa project on track despite meltdown. (BL)

· Infotech Enterprises is gearing up to tap big contracts in defense sector. (BL)

· Gujarat NRE Coke plans DVS-rights issue at 1:450. (BS)

· Future Group plans expansion of 600,000 square feet in east India over the next one year. (ET)

· Future Group to cut prices of its private labels across all product categories. (BS)

· Oil India plans to foray into the telecom sector. (ET)

· Elder Pharma to ink two more nutraceutical deals. (BL)

· State owned Banks are planning to cut rates on small ticket loans by up to 300bps. (ET)

· TRAI plans administrative charges for 3G bids at the rate of 2% of the highest bid amount. (ET)

· Subbarao says RBI might further lower growth forecasts for FY09. (ET)

· Government plans to give tax-free status to equity returns from private PFs and superannuation funds. (ET)

· Government issues Rs100bn bonds to 23 fertilizer companies. (BS)