Daily News Roundup - Dec 22 2009

M&M signed a joint venture agreement with Yueda Group, China’s second largest tractor producer, to set up a tractor company with a combined investment of Rs1.8bn. (BS)

Tata Motors plans to roll out hybrid city buses which are aimed at providing eco-friendly transportation solutions. (FE)

Reliance Infrastructure is on track to commission over Rs100bn worth of infrastructure projects in the next seven months. (BS)

TVS Motor plans to launch diesel auto-rickshaws as part of its strategy to grow in the domestic market. (ET)

Nava Bharat Ventures acquired a 65% equity stake in Maamba Collieries Ltd (MCL) of Zambia at a total outlay of US$26mn. (BS)

The Orissa government has granted Prospecting License (PL) in favour of Bhushan Steel over an area of 280.755 hectares spread over Marsuan,Tiriba and Narasinghapur villages in Keonjhar district. (BS)

S Tel, the latest entrant in the Indian cellular market, aims to be present in six telecom circles of the country by the end of 2010. (BS)

Fortis Healthcare, post-acquisition of 10 hospitals from the Wockhardt group, will spend around Rs2.5bn to complete the ongoing hospitals in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. (BL)

Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to market an antihypertensive originally, discovered by Daiichi Sankyo, in six African countries. (BL)

Tata Realty And Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, plans to develop the Rs35bn ‘Ramanujan IT City' in Chennai. (BL)

Aegis Logistics has acquired Shell Gas (LPG) India and expects the whole acquisition process to be completed in the next 90-days. (FE)

Fortis will expand and add 600 beds in the first half of 2010. (FE)

Ansal Properties plans to raise Rs6bn through qualified institutional placement. (ET)

Ranbaxy labs to launch its parent companies anti-hypertensive drug, Olmesartan Medoxomil, in six African countries under the brand name — Olvance. (ET)

Indirect tax receipts for eight months (April-November 2009) dipped 21% to Rs1,458bn. (BS)

Nuclear Power Corporation has projected an investment of Rs10,000bn for nuclear capacity addition of 10,000MW by 2020. (BS)

The advance tax collection from India Inc rose 20% in the first nine months of FY10, compared to the same period last year, with automobiles, consumer goods and metals leading the pack. (BS)

The life insurance industry logged a 21% yoy increase in premium collections during the first seven months of FY10. (BS)

The empowered Group of Ministers decided that auctions for 3G mobile spectrum will take place in January and will be given to four successful bidders excluding BSNL and MTNL. However, all the successful bidders will get 3G spectrum simultaneously only in August 2010. (BL)

The Petroleum Minister has sought oil bonds worth Rs208bn to partially compensate the public sector OMCs for selling cooking fuels below the market price during the three quarters of the current fiscal. (BL)

The government is set to accept the recommendations of a ministerial group and ban FDI in tobacco, dealing a blow to the plans of international tobacco firms that have long eyed a bigger presence in the Indian market. (ET)

The companies are rushing to buy-back FCCBs as deadline set by RBI for repurchase of these securities ends this month. (ET)