Daily News Roundup - May 18 2009

Tatas, M&M, Maruti join hands for hybrid models. (BL)

Bharti Airtel says it is open to acquiring domestic telecom operators as part of its strategy to add another 100mn subscribers in three years.(BL)

MTNL launches 3G mobile services in Mumbai.(BL)

IDBI, ICICI Bank cut deposit rates.(BL)

Alcatel receives a five-year contract of about US$150mn from Unitech Wireless.(TOI)

MTNL looks at demerger of tower operations.(FE)

HCL Technologies plans to cancel hedging contracts worth US$600mn. (BS)

Bank of India, the largest promoter in its life venture company-Star Union Dai-ichi Life, may offload around 3% stake in favour of Union Bank of India.(DNA)

Tata Steel will pre-pay £200mn debt.(FE)

M&M may move production of key models out of Nashik. (BS)

Ashok Leyland Nissan JV to delay by six months due to the current economic slowdown and delay in land acquisition. (BS)

Maruti Suzuki to demonstrate 10 hybrid vehicles in Commonwealth Games. (BS)

Pantaloon Retail sales jump over 20% in April as against sales clocked in the same period last year. (BS)

Voltamp Transformers defers the construction work of its new manufacturing facility at Savli in Vadodara to save cost. (BS)

IOC, BPCL and HPCL raised the aviation turbine fuel price by Rs585 per kilolitre in Delhi to Rs32,199 with effect from midnight tonight. (BS)

BoB likely to start insurance business by March 2010. (BS)

GTL bags Rs3.2bn Maharashtra electricity deal.(BL)

Aegis BPO, the back office arm of the Essar Group, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Australian contact centre company UCMS Group for Rs2bn.(BL)

MTNL drops plan to acquire Sri Lankan telecom company Suntel. (BS)

Bharti Airtel crosses 100 mn customers. (BS)

Infosys Technologies receives the eBiz project of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry. (BS)

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra says it will spend over Rs10bn this year, mainly to launch its GSM network in Mumbai and Maharashtra.(DNA)

British government ready to guarantee loans to Tata group-owned Jaguar Land Rover. (ET)

M&M in advanced stages of talks with US-based Caterpillar for a 51:49 joint venture, which will make engines for the US firm’s tractor range. (ET)

Tata Steel to double its outlets to 1,000 in the next 2-3 years for sale of its branded products. (ET)

Ranbaxy Labs has chalked out plans to revamp its US business. (ET)

Piramal Life Sciences to invest Rs2bn in next two years for its ambitious programme to discover and develop new chemical entities and Novel Drug Delivery Systems. (ET)

Spice Group's mobile retailing arm HotSpot to spend Rs2bn on acquisitions and expansion of its operations across the country. (ET)

Captain Gopinath open to the idea of selling his 10% stake in Kingfisher Airlines. (ET)

Unitech plans to generate Rs9bn from the sale of two hotels in Gurgaon and a commercial office complex in Saket, New Delhi, by the end of June. (BS)

Shriram Transport Finance plans to set up a subsidiary for equipment finance for a proposed capital of around Rs1.5bn. (BS)

Tech Mahindra to set up BPO in Kolkata. (ET)

Promoters of Essar Shipping are considering delisting the company. (ET)

Congress wins a resounding victory in the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha, bagging as many as 206 seats, a sharp rise from 145 in the 14th Lok Sabha.(BS)

Government lifts ban on futures trading in wheat. (BL)

Foreign exchange reserves increased by US$4.2bn to US$255.9bn for the week ended May 8.(BL)

CERC to set new criteria of power generation, transmission. (ET)

MNC units abroad to come under drug regulator scanner.(BL)

Committee set up by the DoT to review the spectrum allocation policy suggest no operator should be allowed to own more than 25% of the total available spectrum in a circle.(BL)

Government is expected to issue bonds worth more than Rs 100bn before the end of this month.(DNA)

Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Authority has raised the limit of wind power purchase by distribution licensees. It has been increased to 6% for fiscal 2009-10 and 7% for financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12. (BS)

Pharma companies seek government to increase spending on healthcare from 1% to at least 3%. (ET)