Daily News Roundup - Sep 29 2009

Power Ministry has questioned the validity of Reliance Industries’ charging marketing margin on the sale of gas from its KG-D6 fields. (BL)

L&T Finance agrees to acquire 100% stake in DBS Cholamandalam AMC for Rs450mn from Cholamandalam DBS Finance. (BL)

Sesa Goa plans to raise Rs60bn through various options such as QIPs, ADRs, GDRs etc. (BL)

ONGC has zeroed in on a location in Assam and has submitted a proposal to Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) for jointly exploring the resource. (BL)

Suzlon has kicked off discussions with lenders to review its financing options which could lead to the refinancing of its domestic and foreign loans. (TOI)

US bankruptcy judge rejected attempts by Sterlite Industries to sweeten its offer for Asarco, and recommended for the second time that rival bidder Grupo Mexico regain control of the company. (TOI)

Tata Power expects to commission the first two units of its 4,000MW Mundra UMPP in Gujarat before the end of the current five year plan. (BL)

Gammon India says it has decided to raise US$200mn through qualified institutional placement. (FE)

Lupin has acquired the marketing rights and inventory for cholesterol-lowering drug Antara for the US market from bankrupt American company Oscient Pharma for US$39mn. (ET)

Tata Power is scouting for coal mines abroad, including Australia and Mozambique, to meet demand for its upcoming projects. (ET)

RIL has made a fresh appeal to the petroleum ministry to grant a three-year rig holiday. (FE)

BSNL plans to outsource more than 50,000 towers and over 0.1mn km of optic fibre cable in deals worth more than Rs50bn over five years. (ET)

SAIL is looking to set up two greenfield slag-based cement manufacturing units with a total capacity of 3mtpa through a joint venture. (BS)

MTNL invites bids to set up IT network for Games worth Rs4bn. (ET)

Nacil to raise Rs20bn by January 2010. (Mint)

JSW Energy is scouting for an alternative site for its power project in Gujarat as the one it had identified the land for, in the first phase, is no longer feasible. (BL)

Cipla says it will raise Rs6.8bn through the issue of equity shares on an institutional placement basis. (FE)

Mahindra Satyam has been exempted from providing financial statements in bids for government projects enabling it to participate in tenders called by government units. (ET)

HCL Technologies plans to hire 2,000 software engineers in the next 3-4 months. (ET)

Union Bank of India has sought Rs18bn capital infusion from the government to strengthen its capital base. (BL)

A proposal finalized by DoT says about two-thirds of BSNL's employees would be shifted to a newly created PSU, the National Optic Fibre Authority. (FE)

Dabur India to set up one unit each in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Egypt, which will be operational by July next year. (ET)

The steel ministry has approached the ministry of finance to initiate the divestment process in SAIL along with its proposed public offering. (ET)

Mundra Port and SEZ is holding talks with the Vietnam government to set up a port in the country. (ET)

United Spirits plans to invest Rs6.8bn towards building four Greenfield primary distilleries. (ET)

ICAI finds Satyam auditors ‘prima facie’ guilty of misconduct. (BL)

ICICI Bank will block all its credit cards issued to a customer in case s/he defaults on any one of them. (BS)

SANOFI-AVENTIS, looking to pick stake in Piramal Healthcare. (ET)

Karnataka Government to exempt VAT and CST to coaches manufactured by public sector BEML for Bangalore Metro project. (BS)

US court rejects Wyeth’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Orchid Chemicals from launching the generic version of the antibiotic injections, Piperacillin and Tazobactam, in the US. (ET)

Rural Electrification Corp says its follow on public offer to raise Rs32bn is likely to come up by January 2010. (FE)

The income tax department conducted searches at various premises of Tulip Telecom for alleged evasion of taxes running into crores of rupees. (ET)

Sesa Goa, Welspun Gujarat raise US$630mn via FCCBs. (ET)

Bharati Shipyard is considering seeking shareholders’ approval to take the borrowing limit to Rs70bn. (ET)

Uttam Galva Steel plans a capital expenditure of Rs3-5bn over the next two years for setting up of a 60MW power plant. (ET)

DLF has mopped up ~1bn as booking amount for flats it had offered in the second phase of its housing project in Delhi. (ET)

RCF is planning to re-develop its residential areas with high-rise towers to unlock the value of its real estate assets. (BS)

Usher Agro is planning to expand paddy milling capacity at Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, from the existing 2,00,000 tons to 5,00,000 tons at an investment of Rs800mn. (BS)

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation is planning to import one LNG cargo every month as part of its strategy to enter into the LNG trading business. (BS)

Adani group eyes 100mt port in Orissa. (BS)

Camlin is exploring options to sell the pharmaceutical businesses of subsidiary Camlin Fine Chemicals. (ET)

Provogue talks to FMCG firms for distribution joint venture. (BS)

Royal Orchid Hotels plans to add 3,000 rooms over the next four-five years. (BS)

Lodha Developers to raise up to Rs30bn in IPO. (BS)

NEPC India plans to set up a SEZ at Palladam near Coimbatore with an investment of around Rs20bn. (BS)

Gulshan Investment and Shail Investments, acquires 13.4% of Fame India. (ET)

Tata, AIG to infuse Rs6bn in life insurance JV. (BS)

Torrent Group to expand its Kadi-based pharma facility and setting up a green field project at upcoming Dahej SEZ. (ET)

ArcelorMittal will focus more on emerging markets including India and expects to return to the pre-crisis level by 2012. (ET)

Unilever agreed to buy Sara Lee Corp’s personal-care and European detergent unit for US$1.88bn. (BS)


Foreign exchange reserves fell US$208mn to US$281bn for the week ended September 18. (BL)

Security transaction tax has seen a growth of 11% between April 1 and September 25, over the year-ago period. (ET)

Index of six core infrastructure industries registers 7.1% yoy growth in August, as against 2.1% last year. (BL)

The government may lease six sick units on a public private partnership (PPP) basis instead of disposing of these units through an outright sale. (BS)

The government is considering a cap on return on equity earned by road developers for annuity projects to prevent cartels from making abnormal profit. (ET)

The Reserve Bank of India may increase the cost of funds for the commercial real estate sector by up to 200 basis points. (ET)

Exports of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals increased 29% in FY09 compared with the year-ago period. (BL)

Government plans to roll out nutrient-based fertiliser subsidy in phases. (BS)

August excise collection up 23% over July, says CBEC chief. (BL)

DoT is learnt to have decided that the policy on mobile virtual network operation would be applicable to both 2G and 3G services. (DNA)

Successful bidders for 3G spectrum will also be allotted 2G airwaves, conceding a major demand of foreign telcos looking to take part in the 3G auctions. (ET)

More than half-a-dozen PSU banks are expected to get ~Rs100bn as fresh capital by December following the World Bank board’s decision to inject funds into these PSB’s and enhance their capacity to lend. (ET)

The law ministry has cleared a proposal to enact a law to screen foreign investment from the security angle. (ET)

Security encashment likely to be cut to 5% for highway bidders. (ET)