Daily News Roundup - Feb 16 2010

Rural Electrification Corporation plans to raise US$700mn through External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) and Export Credit Assistance (ECA). (BS)

BP Plc has joined the race with RIL to acquire a majority stake in Canadian oil-sand major, Value Creation, with an offer of US$1.2bn. (BS)

PVR Cinemas has decided to terminate its agreement to acquire real estate developer DLF’s exhibition hall business, DT Cinemas. (BS)

Ballarpur Industries has put in a bid close to US$200m for acquiring Malaysia’s largest integrated paper manufacturer GS Paper & Packaging Group (ET)

Indiabulls Real Estate is considering the demerger of its wholesale trading business, to unlock value from the venture. (BS)

Work on Jaypee Power Ventures Limited (JPVL)’s, a subsidiary of Jaypee Group, 2,700MW hydro project in Arunachal may commence by 2011. (BS)

SBI to provide interest-free seed capital of upto Rs1m to aspiring entrepreneurs under a new scheme – SBI SMILE. (ET)

Shoppers’ Stop plans to add 1mn sq ft over the next three years. (BS)

Bharat Electronics is likely to end the present financial year with an order book of over Rs120bn, a growth of 20% during the year. (BS)

Adani Power enters MP with 1,320MW power project.

Stone India inks JV with Japanese firm for manufacturing air springs. (BS)

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals is set to increase its field-force, and introduce several products including patent-protected ones, over the next 12-18 months. (BL)

NTPC ‘in talks' to take over Jharkhand's Patratu power station. (BL)

Ruchi Soya Industries has approved a scheme of amalgamation with Palm Tech India Limited (PTIL), of Andhra Pradesh. (BL)

Four Soft has won a contract from the European firm Len Lothian Ltd for the deployment of its warehouse management system, 4S eLog. (BL)

PVR Cinemas has called off the deal to acquire DT Cinemas. (FE)

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI), surged to a 14-month high of 8.56% in January, beating the Reserve Bank of India’s projection of 8.5% by the end of March. (BS)

The finance ministry has cleared the decks for the auction of third-generation (3G) telecom licences by the end of this financial year, by assuring the law ministry that it would ensure all successful bidders the availability of spectrum by September 1, instead of selectively releasing spectrum depending on availability. (BS)

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has introduced new norms that will bar a developer from bidding for new projects if the company has not been able to achieve financial closure of three or more projects. (BL)

State-owned oil firms to cut aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by 2.5% on falling global rates to give some relief to Indian carriers. (FE)