Daily News Roundup - Nov 30 2009

Suzlon Energy's subsidiary REpower Systems receives an order from Saint-Laurent Énergies, Canada, for supply of 954MW of wind turbines ;deal size is estimated at about US$1bn. (BL)

L&T is all set to ink a JV agreement with Nuclear Power Corp for setting up an Rs20bn project to make forgings for nuclear power plants. (BL)

ONGC finds traces of a new oil reserve in Gujarat which could increase the company’s total onshore oil production by about 20%. (BS)

Mahindra Satyam, Siemens and Patni Computers, are in the race for selection as IT implementing agencies for the government’s automation programme worth Rs100bn. (ET)

Wockhardt and DBS Bank have agreed to an out-of-court settlement of a dispute over loans the drug manufacturer had taken from the Singapore-based lender. (BS)

GMR Group is in talks with private equity funds 3i Investments and Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure to raise US$450mn in GMR Airport Holdings. (ET)

Barclays Capital and Calyon have petitioned the High Court to liquidate the assets of Wockhardt and distribute its proceeds to lenders. (BS)

Tatas, L&T in race for the 35-km high-speed rail transport between Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli and the city centre. (BS)

The US drug regulator has commenced inspection of Lupin’s upcoming plant at Indore last week. (ET)

Gammon plans to make an yearly investment of up to Rs50bn for roads development projects and is looking to bid for 10 projects by fiscal end. (ET)

Shriram EPC has signed a MoU with North West Electric Power Design Institute of China to form a consortium to undertake EPC contracts for thermal power projects in India. (BL)

Marico and Godrej Consumer Products are in the race to buy British skincare brand Simple, one of the largest beauty product brands in the UK. (FE)

TCS has said that it will recruit about 25,000 people in 2010-11. (BL)

Bajaj Auto to launch sub-150 cc Pulsar. (BL)

Reliance Capital plans to acquire a controlling stake in Quant Capital. (BS)

Reliance Communications cuts SMS charges, further heating up the ongoing tariff war in the Indian mobile telephony market. (BL)

Aditya Birla Retail is considering an IPO and will time it as soon as the company starts spinning profits. (DNA)

ABG Shipyard said its open offer for 32.1% stake in Great Offshore will now commence on December 3. (FE)

Jay Shree Tea is close to announcing its first overseas acquisition, in Uganda. (BS)

Spice Group plans to enter mutual funds, stock broking and distribution and micro-finance businesses by March 2010. (BS)

Spice Mobile plans to start a manufacturing unit for mobile devices in the country by next year, with an initial investment of Rs1bn. (BS)

Foreign exchange reserves fell by US$1bn to US$285bn, for the week ended November 20. (BL)

Sufficient room for banks to cut lending rates further, says RBI governor. (BL)

Six core infrastructure industries see 3.5% yoy growth in October, compared to 4.1% and 7.8% levels of the preceding two months and the 2% for Oct’ 08. (BL)

The 46 operational airports in the country handled 42mn domestic passengers during April-Sept’ 2009-10, which is about the same as the numbers handled in 2007. (BL)

FDI into India declined 11% yoy to US$15bn in the first six months of fiscal 2009-10. (DNA)

Exports dip 6.6% yoy in October. (TOI)

Finance Ministry says no to income tax holiday for first 7 NELP rounds. (FE)

The government is assessing the needs of major export-oriented sectors hit by the economic slowdown to provide support for their fast recovery. (BS)

India’s drug retail market grew by 29.24% in value terms in October this year over the year-ago period. (ET)

Government plans ultra mega steel projects, to identify five locations adjacent to mining sites for developing UMSPS. (ET)