Daily News Roundup - March 4 2009

Eight companies including RIL, GAIL, Cairn and IOC bid for supplying CNG and piped natural gas in six cities. (ET)

ONGC may bag US$8bn contract to clean up the oil spill created by US in Kuwait. (ET)

ONGC Petro-Additions Ltd is set to achieve financial closure for its Rs124bn petrochemical plant at Dahej SEZ. (BL)

ONGC to delist Imperial Energy at LSE on March 9. (FE)

BPCL defers plan for an IPO for its subsidiary, Bharat Oman Refineries. (ET)

M&M is in talks with Lockheed Martin and BAE for a naval JV. (ET)

SBI has signed an agreement with Mahindra World City to set up a 25-acre northern hub in Jaipur. (ET)

Tata-Sasol and JSPL get blocks for coal to liquid projects. (BL)

Pfizer to license 50 generics from Aurobindo. (BS)

Suzlon bags 100MW order from China. (BL)

Siemens VAI wins Euro200mn order from SAIL to build an LD converter steel mill at Bhilai. (BL)

Bajaj Auto’s XCD 135 is the second largest selling motor bike after Pulsar in the company’s portfolio. (BL)

Jet Airways plans to lease out more aircrafts. (BL)

JP Associates to hire 2,000 people in 2009 for its ongoing expansion projects. (ET)

Voltas entered into an alliance with Thies of Germany to sell and service Thies products in India. (FE)

Alcatel wins 7-year contract from Tata Teleservices to expand its network in 22 circles and improve voice data and voice services. (ET)

Dunlop to restart work at Sahagunj plant on Friday. (BL)

Unitech launched two new projects after a gap of nearly five months. (BS)

HCL Tech inks Rs4bn deal with National Insurance Company. (BS)

Oriental Bank reschedules loans worth RS10bn. (BS)

Hindustan Zinc plans to set up a metal park in Rajasthan. (BL)

Gammon India promoters have pledged 9.1% stake in the company with lenders. (ET)

BEML entered into an agreement with Sumber Mitra Jaya of Indonesia to bid for the upcoming contract mining businesses in India. (BS)

Bhushan Steel made an open offer of Rs330/share for 20% of Orissa Sponge. (BS)

Thomas Cook to cut staff and shut retail outlets to save costs. (BS)

Promoters of new telecom licensees like Unitech Wireless and others are now free to sell their stake. (FE)

IVRCL Infrastructure plans to acquire an European engineering company specializing in water technology for ~Rs5.1bn. (ET)

IVRCL bags seven projects worth Rs6.7bn from different agencies for construction related works. (BS)

Patni has tied up with SAP Japan for providing SAP services in Japanese market. (BS)

TV Today announces share buyback. (BS)

Subhash Projects bags an order worth Rs690mn for two water treatment plant projects in Karnataka. (FE)

Vishal Retail has successfully rolled over Rs400mn of short term debt and is in talks to negotiate the remaining Rs1bn. (BS)

V-Guard plans to enter the UPS business through a joint venture. (BL)

Satyam Computer board approaches SEBI to allow the successful bidder to take control of the company before completion of the open offer. (ET)

Truck and heavy vehicle sales dip by 53% in February. (BL)

Skoda plans to launch Yeti in India. (BL)

Central PSU’s shed 44,000 employees during FY08. (BS)






Rupee breaches 52-mark against the US$. (BS)

Service tax collection in Mumbai may go up by 20% at Rs220bn in the current fiscal. (ET)

Cement makers have raised prices by Rs5-8 per 50-kg bag in Mumbai and Gujarat. (ET)

RBI plans to put a Rs1,000 cap on transaction charges levied by banks on exporters availing dollar credit. (ET)

Branded fuel sales dip for the first time. (BS)

Fiscal deficit estimate is off the mark by Rs510bn. (BS)

Central government has objected to Maharashtra’s SEZ bill. (BS)

State highway projects under the PPP model get better response than NHAI. (BS)

Ministry of Defence and Civil Aviation has granted preliminary clearance to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd for setting up of an airport at Ludhiana. (BS)

CERC appoints ABPS Infra to prepare draft tariff regulation for renewable energy, which will be announced by July this year. (BS)

Mobile phone sales for 2008 are higher by 25.5% yoy. (BS)

Pharma exports during October 08 are lower by 2%. (BL)

Public-private partnership panel approves projects worth Rs52bn. (BL)