Daily News Roundup - Oct 5 2009

Grasim Industries to spin off its cement business into a separate entity and merge the same with wholly owned subsidiary Samruddhi Cement. (BL)

Under a business restructuring plan, Grasim Industries’ subsidiary Samruddhi Cement to issue one equity share of Rs5 each to every one equity share of Grasim shareholder. (BL)

SBI to raise up to US$1bn from the international market this month through the issue of five year maturity bonds. (DNA)

ABG Shipyard and Bharati Shipyard battle to buy a controlling stake in Tebma Shipyards. (ET)

Supreme Court allowed the substantial change effected by RIL in its stand on the quantity and price of gas from the KG basin to be supplied by it to NTPC mid-way through the gas dispute. (TOI)

Government has asked SAIL to give a specific proposal for its proposed public offering and the PSU's board would discuss the same at a meeting later this month. (FE)

BHEL plans to float a separate subsidiary company for power generation projects. (BS)

SBI cuts deposit rates across the board. (BL)

Ashok Leyland reported a 12% fall in its sales at 5,452 units for September, compared with 6,186 units a year ago. (BL)

UltraTech Cement is planning a follow-on public offer to fund the expansion of its cement business. (BS)

Cairn India, along with its partners ONGC and Tata Petrodyne, may get to develop the discovered Ambe field in Cambay Basin along with ONGC’s North Tapti fields. (BL)

Videocon Industries would buy Finnish company Elcoteq, a contract manufacturer of mobile phones and other electronic items, in a deal estimated at around US$73mn. (FE)

Power Grid Corp. will jointly bid for contracts in West Asia and North Africa along with Qatar’s Venture Gulf Group and Kuwait’s Real Estate Construction and Fabrication Co. (Mint)

Jet Airways may lease out two Boeing 777 aircraft. (BS)

Pantaloon Retail India has booked a total of 22mn sq ft of retail space and plans to make 3mn sq ft operational every year over the next 3-4 years. (DNA)

Ultratech Cement has an investment plan of Rs150bn over the next five years to add about 25mn tons of capacity. (BS)

GE to integrate all its GE Healthcare units in India and South Asia with the existing Wipro GE Healthcare JV. (BL)

RCF is considering a long-term gas procurement partnership with the US$8bn coal-to-liquid fuel project in Orissa being set up by the Tata group and South African firm Sasol. (Mint)

Bajaj Auto September two-wheelers sales jump 15% from a year ago. (BL)

3i Infotech may restructure its existing debt of about Rs 12bn. (DNA)

Air India, which is seeking a bailout package from the government, has decided to lease out seven of its aircraft to raise additional funds. (DNA)

Parsvnath Developers raises Rs1.7bn via QIP. (FE)

GAIL India has tied up funds for a petrochemical project in Assam being set up by its subsidiary. (FE)

BSNL, MTNL join Zain bid consortium. (BS)

Arvind Limited plans to consolidate its other verticals like garments and real estate. (BS)

Government may cancel coal block allotted to Binani Cement. (BS)

Bajaj Auto to phase out CNG one toner 3 wheeler in Gujarat. (BS)

Paramount Airways is looking to acquire GoAir, in a cash and stock deal. (BS)

Vishal Retail approaches its lenders to undertake a debt restructuring process to revive the company. (ET)

National Aluminium India’s lowered prices by Rs3,000 per metric ton. (ET)






Aircel enters tower sharing deal with BSNL. (BL)

Foreign exchange reserves fell US$860mn to US$280bn for the week ended September 25. (BL)

Estimates by the Retailers Association of India show organized retail has grown 20% in Q2 FY09. (FE)

India's mutual fund industry witnessed a minor dip in AUM for September, largely due to redemption pressure from the banks. (FE)

TRAI, in its recommendations to the government next month, is expected to suggest ways to bring more consolidation in the sector by way of dropping two clauses that restrict telecom M&As. (FE)

The government is unlikely to keep its December 7 date for 3G auction, with DoT unable to complete the first step to kick off the process.

The government announces Rs3bn initiative to promote domestic manufacture of medical devices. (ET)

The country’s exports continued to slide for the eleventh month in a row, in August, though the pace of decline slowed to settle just under 20%. (BL)