Daily News Roundup - June 18 2009

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has directed Reliance Industries to make additional allocation of natural gas from its KG Basin field to nine power companies. (BS)

TCS aims to prune its selling, general and marketing expenses to 19% of its total earnings. (BL)

NTPC, Reliance Industries case hearing on July 8th 2009. (BL)

Infosys has bagged a US$10mn deal from Microsoft. (ET)

HDFC and HDFC Bank are set to cut interest rates on term deposits by up to 25bps. (ET)

Hindalco is close to acquiring a coal mine in Australia for US$70-80mn. (ET)

M&M is betting its diesel pick up trucks to beat the Chinese competition in US markets. (BS)

ONGC - Mittal to spend US$150mn in Nigeria. (FE)

GAIL has informed Delhi High Court that it has cancelled tender for 3 sections of its Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline where Man Industries was the lowest bidder. (FE)

HPCL and LN Mittal owned Bathinda Refinary is likely to raise Rs20bn through IPO by year-end. (ET)

Tata Communications may sell a minority stake in Tata Communication Internet Services to rope in a strategic partner with proven experience in Wi-Max operations. (ET)

US based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation has filed a law suit against Ranbaxy for alleged infringement of its patent on a drug branded Solodyne. (BS)

Ashok Leyland has entered into pact with UBI and Bank to extend retail finance for sales of promotional vehicle. (FE)

NHPC Ltd to float its IPO by end of August 2009. (BL)

Government plans to divest 10% in Coal India Ltd. (BS)

Jet Airways will not offer any frill services in 110 routes out of its 290 routes. (BL)

Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have raised the fuel surcharge by Rs400 on domestic flights. (BL)

Yes Bank plans to enter retail brokerage business. (FE)

Havells India targets Rs5bn revenue from Switch gear exports in the next three years. (FE)

Apollo Group has dropped plans to acquire Wockhardt Hospitals. (BL)

Fortis Healthcare is leading the race to acquire part of Wockhardt Hospitals. (BS)

Wockhardt Ltd has divested its German business Esparma to Mova GmbH. (BL)

Omaxe Infrastructure has bagged an order worth Rs1.3bn from UP Projects Corporation Ltd. (BS)

Dabur India has increased its stake in Fem Care Pharma to 92.15% post completion of the open offer. (BS)

Man Industries is shelving its plan to build a US$100mn plant in Arkansas. (BS)

Godrej Consumers plans to renew focus on hair colours to achieve higher growth. (BS)

AB Nuvo to raise Rs10bn to repay short-term debt. (FE)

Syndicate Bank has raised Rs2bn from sale of bonds. (FE)

Akruti City has delayed its US$500mn QIP issue by a year. (ET)


World Bank pre-conditions may delay a US$3.2bn loan for re-capitalization of more then a dozen government banks by 6-7 months. (ET)

NHAI has decided to issue letter of award to a highway developer only after it has acquired 80% of the land require for the project. (BL)

Bank credit increased Rs215bn for the fortnight ended June 5th 2009. (BS)

As per IMD, monsoon may revive around June 20th. (BS)

Advance tax collection touch Rs230bn in Q1 FY10 vis-à-vis Rs232bn in Q1 FY09.

Coal production increased 7.8% to 492.95mn tons in FY09. (FE)

Government may reduce food subsidy by Rs135bn. (ET)