Daily News Roundup - Feb 3 2009

Ministry for Corporate Affairs has ordered to scan the books of Educomp and six PSUs. (BL)

DLF has suspended work for more than a quarter of its commercial projects in a bid to save costs as demand for homes and offices slow down. (BS)

DLF plans to raise Rs40bn through asset sale and private placement. (ET)

DLF and Parsvnath plan to cut property prices by 15% in the next few months to boost sales. (BS)

Reliance Communications has decided to transfer the optical fibre business of the company to Reliance Infratel, a subsidiary of the company. (BL)

Reliance Power may get letter of intent for the 4,000mw ultra mega power project at Tilaiya this week. (ET)

Reliance Industries has begun talks with over a dozen power and fertilizer firms to sell gas from its KG basin. (ET)

SAIL to invest Rs40bn for implementation of its various mining projects in Orissa. (BS)

Punjab National Bank to merge its primary dealership subsidiary PNB Gilts with self instead of selling the company. (BS)

NMDC Ltd to secure mining lease for Sansangora deposit in Jharkhand. (BS)

Mastek to put 10% of staff on ‘virtual bench’ for up to 12 months, a move which it says will help it stay profitable in the current economic downturn. (BL)

Central Bank of India plans to raise Rs5-6bn through Tier-I and Tier-II bonds this year in order to boost its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to over 11%.(BS)

Gail India has signed an agreement with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative for exploring options to set up units. (FE)

The Spice Group has acquired a 100% stake in the Indian arm of the Dubai-based mobile retail chain Cellucom in an all stock deal. (BL)

Idea Cellular will roll-out operations in five service areas by end of 2009. (FE)

GMR Infra negotiates to buy SA company based Homeland Mining & Energy for US$100mn. (BS)

Parsvnath promoter has pledged 10% of the promoter's shares with lenders to fund expansion plans. (BS)

Indian Overseas Bank has received approval from the RBI to acquire Pune-based Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank (SSSB). (BS)

Essar Steel’s US$2bn investment in Trinidad and Tobago faces uncertainty as its lead banker has fallen pray to the financial meltdown. (BS)

Tata Tea is restructuring its US operations with a view to bringing down costs substantially. (BS)

Hindustan Unilever plans to hike variable component in employee salaries. (ET)

Senior executives across the Tata Group are bracing for a 10-15% cut in salaries. (ET)

Sobha Developers to raise Rs7.5bn through a combination of preferential share sale, land sale and bringing in strategic investors in some projects in an attempt to reduce debt. (BS)

Bhushan Steel plans to raise Rs4.5bn by issuing 1.5mn redeemable cumulative preference shares. (ET)

Adani group quotes the lowest price in Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd's power purchase bid. (BS)

KVK Energy and Infrastructure has parted ways with its JV partner, Maytas Infra, in setting up a 1,050MW thermal power plant in Orissa under the banner of KVK Nilachal Power Pvt Ltd. (BS)

Merck & Co Inc plans to expand its research collaboration with Indian companies and is currently in talks with 10 major and minor firms. (BL)

Cosmo Films plans to invest Rs2.6bn to treble its capacity in the next two years. (FE)

IL&FS Realty Fund has picked up a 15% stake in Akruti SPV for Rs2bn. (ET)

Companies coming out with an IPO will be allowed to declare the floor price/ price band at least two working days before the date of opening of IPO. (BS)

Other state run banks are likely to offer home loans at an interest rate of 8% fixed for a specified period. (ET)

The Central Board of Excise and Customs in its circular has said that realtors will not be required to pay service tax on sale of flats. (ET)

Upfront margin that promoters will have to pay when they are allotted warrants to be raised from 10 to 25%. (BS)

Nabard has reduced refinance interest rates by 25%. (FE)

Tax exemption on gas output is unlikely soon. (ET)

The Telecom Commission has approved the introduction of national and international calling cards. (FE)

India’s exports declined marginally by 1.1% yoy to US$12.7bn in December 2008. (ET)

The group of ministers of FDI will meet today to discuss the revised guidelines for calculation of direct and indirect foreign holding in sectors attracting foreign investment caps. (ET)

Listed companies will have to declare dividend on a per-share basis, rather than percentage basis. (BS)

Bonus issue will have to be completed in 15 days where no shareholders’ approval is required and in 60 days where shareholders’ approval is required. At present this timeframe is six months. (BS)

RBI increased the prudential inter-bank exposure limit for the Urban Cooperative Banks to 20% from 10% of their total deposit liabilities. (BS)

The slowdown in the economy, coupled with higher outgo on account of stimulus package measures, has pushed the fiscal deficit during April-December 2008 to Rs2,183bn. (BL)

Indian cement sector is expected to witness volume growth of 6-7% over 2010 and most of 2011:Fitch (FE)