Daily News Roundup - Feb 10 2010

Iran said it continues to import fuel from Reliance Industries, a statement contrary to that made by the Mukesh Ambani-controlled company that it had, since last year, stopped selling gasoline to the Islamic nation in an apparent bid to escape US sanctions. (BS)

Bharti Airtel and RCom announced their plans to launch mobile applications stores, joining global companies like Apple, Google, Motorola and BlackBerry. (ET)

Bharti Airtel accounts for 24% of SingTel’s profit of USS$991mn for the three-months ended December 2009. (ET)

ONGC has threatened to withdraw from over seven exploration blocks it had licenses for, if the Centre does not reimburse the taxes the company is paying on behalf of its joint venture partners for these blocks. (FE)

Hero Honda plans to set up Rs8bn greenfield facility in Gujarat for manufacturing bikes and also come up with ancillary units. (BS)

Wipro’s BPO arm plans to shift 20% of its workforce overseas in the next five years. (FE)

Coal India, along with the coal ministry and the Department of Divestment, will meet SEBI on February 19 to chart out the blueprint for its IPO. (BS)

Coal India has lowered its production target to 486mn tons from 520mn tons for the Eleventh Five Year Plan period in a mid-term review. (BS)

Mahindra Renault, a JV between M&M and Renault, has finalized a new roadmap for the troubled venture, details of which will be made public in 30-45 days. (BS)

SBI will continue with its limited period offer on home loans till the end of the current financial year. (ET)

BHEL bagged Rs10bn contract for supplying equipment to a hydro power project in Bhutan. (BL)

The Electrical & Gulf Projects Operating Company, which is part of L&T's construction division, secured orders worth Rs5.8bn for four electrical projects. (BL)

Adani Power plans to set up a 1,320MW coal-based thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh. (BL)

Adani Power has decided to scrap one of its long-term power supply pacts with the apex power utility GUVNL, thus attracting a penalty of Rs1bn. (ET)

Court ruling allows Cipla to market generic cancer drug. (BL)

PFC may hive off its renewable energy business and consortium lending in early 2010-11 to leverage the current investment boom in green energy projects and diversify its asset base. (BS)

NIIT Technologies will launch its bundled cloud computing offerings from the first quarter of the next financial year. (BL)

GMDC is embarking on a line-up of projects involving investments of Rs40bn. (BL)

Reliance Capital Partners, an ADAG company, upped the ante against Fame India by raising its stake in the latter to 7.89% from 6.25% and also threatened regulatory action against the theatre chain. (BS)

Titan Industries plans to take the Titan brand to more countries in the Asian region over the next few years. (BL)

Bank of India has cancelled its US$500mn dollar denominated bond sale, citing volatility in credit markets. (ET)

Seven bidders, including Voltas, Deepak Fertilizers and Bharat Hotels have submitted requests for qualification to build Rs2.5bn terminal market in Thane district near Mumbai. (BS)

Kirloskar Brothers bagged an order from the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board to install 10 solar pumping systems. (BS)

Strides Arcolab said the USFDA has granted market approval for its generic injectible drug for severe hypertension - labetalol hydrochloride. (BL)

US-based Purdue Pharma Products LP and UK-based Napp Pharmaceutical Group have sued Lupin and its US subsidiary, Lupin Pharma Inc, claiming that their attempt to manufacture and market the generic version of the analgesic tramadol ER infringes patent coverage of the innovator. (FE)

Bombay Dyeing said a meeting of its Board of Directors will be held to consider and approve a proposal for issue of warrants to promoters on a preferential basis. (BL)

Subex announced that it is raising up to Rs480mn through a preferential placement with an investment company of the promoter Subash Menon. (FE)

Goodyear India Ltd announced that its board has approved the proposal received from the parent company, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to buy out the remaining stake in the company and delist it from the stock market. (BL)

Golden Tobacco can proceed with its proposed plan to sell its non-core assets after a shareholder withdrew his objection to the sale. (ET)

Zee Turner, the TV channel distribution JV between the Turner Group and the Essel Group, said it would stop Hathway Datacomm from airing 33 channels, since it defaulted on its payments. (BS)

Ennore Coke plans to invest Rs750mn in scaling up its coke plant capacity at Haldia from 0.15mtpa to 0.3mtpa. (BS)

Spanish wind power equipment major Gamesa, whose windmill assembly plant in Chennai was inaugurated today, says it intends to spend €100mn in developing wind farms in India. (BL)

CalPERS, one of the largest public pension funds in the US with investments of ~US$1bn in Indian equities, is looking at infrastructure investments in India. (BS)

With hopes of raising funds through an IPO or selling a stake to a strategic investor fading due to stiff opposition from the unions, the government is working on a proposal for a private placement for BSNL. (BS)


The government is considering a proposal to set up Rs500bn India Infrastructure Debt Fund to meet the long-term needs of PPP projects by tapping foreign and domestic pension and insurance funds, sovereign funds and multilateral institutions. (BS)

The country’s merchandise exports in January are likely to rise 8% to US$14bn from US$12.9bn in the same month last year. (BS)

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan made a strong case for withdrawal of fiscal measures by the government to stimulate the economy. (BS)

The Planning Commission has recommended cutting short the Budget outlay of the power ministry by over 25% to Rs106.3bn for the next financial year against the ministry’s demand of Rs144.3bn. (BS)

The 1% cess levied on the construction activities by the Orissa government as per the provisions of the building and other construction workers’ welfare act, 1996, would be applicable to the projects taken up under RGGVY. (BS)

Power-starved Karnataka, which is facing a shortage of 20MU/day, plans to spend Rs3.5-4bn over the next three months to purchase 400MW power from independent power producers. (BS)

Despite political opposition, the Uttarakhand government is going ahead with its plan to privatise power distribution system in two cities. (BS)

Government expects India's spend on information technology and e-governance to touch about US$4bn during the next fiscal. (BL)

In a move that will make ECB easier and faster for corporates, RBI has allowed Authorised Dealers or banks to perform functions that earlier required the consent of the central bank. (BL)

State-run Food Corporation of India will export 50,000 tons of wheat to Nepal. (FE)

To contain rising sugar prices, the government is planning to restrict bulk users of sugar like soft drinks and ice-cream makers from procuring the sweetener locally and instead meet their requirements through imports. (FE)