Daily News Roundup - June 15 2009

SBI cuts deposit rates by 25 basis points across the board.(BL)

Private oil firms, such as Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, are close to deciding on a price hike, as early as next week. (ET)

L&T to end insurance JV with Travellers.(DNA)

TCS and Wipro are planning to bid for a US$200mn outsourcing contract being considered by Britain’s public postal service Royal Mail Group. (ET)

MTN may take GDR route for 25% stake in Bharti Airtel. (ET)

BHEL receives Rs40bn order from Hindalco.(FE)

SCI and ONGC plan to revive a proposed joint venture for services related to vessel operations. (BS)

Suzlon is exploring the option of selling a large portion of its stake in Hansen Transmissions to raise money for retiring part of its Rs120bn debt. (ET)

Three global firms in the fray to buy 26% stake in UTI AMC.(Mint)

Oil India and Indian Oil consortium will launch a four-well drilling campaign in five onshore blocks in Libya in September-October.(BL)

Reliance Infratel plans to mop up US$1bn.(TOI)

KPMG is likely to be commissioned by the Airports Authority of India to study how much the state-owned airport operator should charge as user development fees at nine airports.(BL)

Bombay High Court may pronounce final judgment on the tussle between RIL and Reliance Natural Resources over supply of gas on Monday. (ET)

Hindalco negotiating with its lenders after breaching a condition linked to a US$1bn loan which the company had raised last year to refinance an expensive bridge loan for acquiring Novelis. (ET)

MTNL strikes tower sharing deal with Essar.(Mint)

Lanco Infratech has received two orders worth Rs3.2bn from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company.(BL)

SBI seeks nod to realign its arms.(FE)

ONGC to hire drill rig from Reliance Industries for Rs39bn.(FE)

Pfizer nears deal for units of Wockhardt for around Rs1.2bn(Mint)

Lanco Infratech is in the process of raising up to Rs25bn QIPs.(BL)

Yes Bank plans to raise US$400nm by means of equity through a follow-on public offer, and debt. (BS)

GMR Energy plans to invest Rs4bn to relocate and restart its barge-mounted naphtha fired power project from Mangalore on the west coast to Kakinada on the east coast in Andhra Pradesh. (BS)

Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure, promoted by SREI, is investing approximately Rs14bn to expand its area of operation to onshore exploration and production and offshore oil services segments.(BL)

The Tata group plans to unlock value from unused land belonging to various group companies by developing them through its two realty subsidiaries, Tata Housing and Tata Realty. (ET)

Indiabulls Real Estate gets commitment of Rs70bn for its power project in Amravati.(TOI)

Government grants a year’s extension to Satyam Computer for completion of three special economic zones in Andhra Pradesh. (BS)

Satyam Computer plans to terminate the lease contracts of four facilities in Hyderabad. (BS)

Sikorsky Aircraft signed an agreement with Tata group company Tata Advanced Systems to manufacture helicopter cabins in India. (ET)

IFC to pick up 4.4% stake in Max India for Rs1.5bn.(FE)

Sical Logistics joins race along with Arcelor-Mittal, Adhunik Metaliks and SPI Ports Ltd to bid for proposed greenfield port at Barunei Muhan in Kendarapara district of Orissa. (BS)

Vedanta Resources to raise US$1bn via convertible bonds.(FE)

NTPC asked to sign Reliance Industries gas purchase deal.(Mint)

Indian Hotels to acquire Sea Rock for Rs6.8bn.(BL)

Vedanta investing Rs6bn in Sesa Goa.(BL)

Air India to delay salary payment.(BL)

Madras High Court did not entertain Kotak Mahindra Bank’s plea to access financial details filed by cash-strapped retailer Subhiksha with the court. (ET)

LIC Housing Finance to raise up to Rs150bn of debt in the current financial year through options such as CP, NCDs and ECBs. (ET)

Zylog Systems plans to invest around Rs2bn in setting up infrastructure to support its wireless internet service – Wi5 – over the next two years. (BS)

Mahendra Nahata of Himachal Futuristic agrees to sell his 36% stake in Datacom Solutions to the Dhoots of the Videocon Group for ~US$300mn. (ET)

BSNL drops plans to bid for telecom licence in Tunisia. (ET)

Mahindra group’s resorts arm, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India decides to hit the primary market by the end of this month. (ET)






Foreign exchange reserves fell by US$1.1bn to US$261bn for the week ended June 5.(BL)

IIP registered a growth of 1.4% yoy in April.(BL)

Data collated by the DGCA show that the 3.93mn passengers carried by the domestic airlines in May were 4.5% fewer than the 4.12mn people flown in May last year.(BL)

TRAI may look at introducing portability in the DTH services sector.(DNA)

Government will try to reduce taxes and interest rates to provide relief to the textile industry, says Union minister for textiles.(DNA)

Food processing industries minister advocated for a tax holiday and infrastructure status for the sector. (ET)

Steel ministry proposes to reimpose 15% export duty on iron ore (lumps and fines) to the finance ministry. (ET)

The government is considering a proposal to hike income-tax exemption available for interest payment on home loans to Rs2.5lakh a year. (ET)