Daily News Roundup - Nov 18 2009

Reliance Industries has lined up aggressive plans for its oil and gas exploration work over the next three years to further strengthen its position in the energy business. (BS)

LN Mittal has pulled out of a project to develop an oil block in Kazakhstan with joint venture partner ONGC Videsh. (ET)

Jharkhand government has agreed to renew SAIL’s lease for the Buddhaburu mine, having reserves of 810mn tons. (BS)

NMDC and SAIL will jointly develop a limestone project at Arki in Himachal Pradesh with a 3MTPA capacity. (BS)

SAIL to spend Rs600bn for expansion in 3 years. (ET)

Bharti Airtel said it has commenced operations of its Far-East Connect Network, enabling it to serve the requirements of wholesale customers in the high growth markets across Asia and the Pacific. (ET)

TCS has recovered all its dues from American carmakers - General Motors and Chrysler. (BL)

Indian Oil is losing Rs920mn/day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. (ET)

Tata Motors has so far raised Rs2.6bn through the revised fixed deposit scheme which it launched in August this year. (BS)

Tata Motors, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is hopeful of turning around the unprofitable luxury unit as it cuts costs to battle a slump in sales during the global recession. (BS)

Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, a 50:50 JV between Fiat Group and Tata Motors, plans to launch CNG driven vehicles in India by the Q1 FY11. (BL)

L&T plans to sell its petroleum dispensing pump business to US company Gilbarco Veeder-Root for ~Rs1.5bn. (BS)

L&T plans to consolidate its integrated engineering services business into one separate entity. (BL)

Hindalco Industries plans to raise Rs29bn through issue of QIP, GDR or any other securities in the near future to fund its expansion plans. (BL)

The FIPB referred to the CCEA a proposal by private carrier Jet Airways to raise about Rs20bn from foreign investors. (ET)

JSW steel is likely to spend US$500mn buying coal mines overseas to secure supplies for local expansion. (FE)

JP Associates plans to raise Rs15bn from the primary market by an initial share sale of its arm Jaypee Infratech. (FE)

Power Grid has initiated talks with BSNL to lease space from its towers. (BS)

Satyam has received legal notices from 37 companies claiming a refund of US$265mn, allegedly given as temporary advance. (BS)

Mahindra Satyam announced a strategic partnership with Gen-i one of Australia’s leading ICT service providers. (FE)

Japanese conglomerate NTT Group has entered the race to acquire a majority stake in Patni Computer. (ET)

The government has approved ArcelorMittal’s over Rs5bn FDI for acquisition of a 35% stake in steel products maker Uttam Galva. (ET)

Godrej Consumer Products plans to strengthen its roots in the rural areas through regional advertising component. (BS)

Shree Cement has lined up am major expansion plan in both its key business – cement and power with a total investment of Rs13bn. (FE)

Land acquisition is proving to be a problem for Shree Cement to carry out its expansion plans. (BS)

JK Lakshmi Cement said it will invest Rs12bn for setting up a greenfield plant at Durg (Chhattisgarh). (ET)

Mahindra Lifespace Developers has been shortlisted by the Mauritius government to build a new city on the island. (ET)

Torrent Power has reduced fuel surcharge by one paise per unit. (BS)

Nestle India launched a new range of instant pasta products, ‘Maggi Nutri-Licious Pazzta’, in two flavours and priced at Rs12 and Rs15. (BL)

Brigade plans to invest Rs20bn over the next four years to build compact residential properties, ‘Brigade Value Homes’, in Bangalore. (BS)

Godrej Properties plans to invest Rs2bn for its maiden a commercial and office space project ‘Godrej Eternia’ in Chandigarh. (BS)

Nitesh Estates is learnt to have planned to raise nearly Rs10bn through sale of shares of a special purpose vehicle (SPV). (ET)

Jayashree Chemicals, a caustic soda producing company, has agreed to procure the salt from the farmers at Rs1,050/ton. (BS)

The government plans to allow railways and power projects to borrow from IIFCL. (BS)

State-owned UCO Bank expects to receive Rs7.5bn from the government this month to shore up capital. (BS)

Hyundai Motor India will continue to be aggressive with its product launches in the compact car segment to protect and grow its market share. (BL)

BSNL is likely to exit the consortium comprising Delhi-based Vavasi Group and Malaysia's Al-Bukhary to acquire 46% in Kuwait’s Zain Telecom. (BS)

Himachal Pradesh government has urged the Centre to extend the industrial package from 2010 to 2013. (BS)

The North West Region of the Income Tax Department comprising Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Perdesh, Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh registered 13.7% growth in collection of direct taxes to Rs59.8bn till 16 November 2009 as compared to the corresponding period last year. (BS)

The Direct tax collections have grown sharply in many smaller cities in the April-October period, in contrast to the big ones where they have either fallen or grown at low single-digit rates. (ET)

The proposal for a single regulator for organized trading of all financial market instruments is gaining momentum with the Union finance ministry starting internal discussions on the issue. (BS)

Life insurance renewal premium jumped 18.6% to Rs624bn during first half of the current financial year, while ULIPs registered 34% growth to Rs254bn. (BS)

A panel set up by RBI has recommended setting up of an emergency fund to help urban co-operative banks tide over liquidity problems. (BS)

The RBI has asked leading finance companies, bond houses and securities firms to disclose details on all structured debentures floated by them to raise money. (ET)

The Finance and Investment Committee of EPFO is scheduled to meet on December 1 to take a final call on investing ~Rs130bn a portion of its corpus in the capital markets. (BS)

The Andhra Pradesh government has agreed to pass on the purchase tax incentive of Rs60/ton to sugarcane growers during the 2009-10 season. (BL)

The Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended imposition of preliminary anti-dumping duty on the import of Digital Versatile Discs-Recordable (DVD-R and DVD-RW) from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. (BL)

Apprehending the misuse of the concept ‘class action suit’, the government is considering a proposal to change the norms on such a suit specified in the Companies Bill, 2009. (BL)

The Communications Minister will meet the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister to end the stalemate on 3G spectrum vacation by the armed forces. (BL)

The Corporate Affairs Minister said the government could come up with norms on CSR credits on the lines of carbon credits and companies can trade in such credits. (BL)

State run National Aviation Company of India, which runs Air India and Indian Airlines, would receive the first installment of equity infusion by the government worth Rs4bn by January. (ET)

The Centre has suggested to the state governments that they should create industrial land banks from available waste and fallow lands, to avoid confrontation with farmers over acquisition of agricultural plots for industrial purposes. (ET)

The government will take help of the department of posts in providing unique identity number to people in the less-accessible parts of the country. (ET)

In a bid to accelerate the infrastructure projects through public private partnership initiatives in India, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to provide close to US$700mn in loans. (FE)