Daily News Roundup - March 25 2010

ONGC is in talks with three Russian companies for acquiring oil properties in Russia and CIS region. (ET)

The US Healthcare Bill, which proposes to create Electronic Health Records for all Americans by 2014, is expected to open up a US$20bn market opportunity for Indian IT services firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Firstsource and MindTree. (BS)

GAIL is in talks with Canadian oil company Interoil Corp for a possible stake in its proposed LNG project in Papua New Guinea. (BS)

The Monetary Authority of Singapore granted ICICI Bank a qualified full banking status and allowed it to offer retail banking services. (ET)

Tata Motors signed an agreement with the Myanmarese government for setting up a heavy truck plant in the South-East Asian nation with an installed capacity of up to 5,000 units annually. (BS)

Having already launched two of its 'World Truck' variants, Tata Motors plans to launch 20 new variants in coming two years. (BS)

Tata Motors is investigating the latest incident in Mumbai of a new Nano catching fire, less than an hour after it was driven out of the showroom. (BL)

Bharat PetroResources, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL, along with its partner Anadarko Petroleum Corporation of the US, has encountered more than 145 net meters of natural gas in reservoir sands with a gross column of more than 365 meters. (BS)

Zain board will meet on Wednesday to consider Bharti Airtel’s offer to buy out its African assets. (ET)

DLF has decided to resolve what appeared to be a conflict of business interest between itself and its erstwhile group company, DLF Assets, by merging the latter with a fully owned subsidiary. (BL)

NTPC plans to produce 500MW from renewable energy projects and proposes to set up a 1,000MW coal-based thermal power station at Khambhat, Gujarat. (BL)

Concerned over inordinate delay in implementation of NTPC projects, the CAG will look into contractual agreements entered into by the company with various suppliers and contractors to find out the reasons for delays. (ET)

L&T won Rs9.8bn contract from the Ministry of Defence for design and construction of 36 high-speed interceptor boats for the Indian Coast Guard. (BS)

Cipla is in talks with Piramal Healthcare to sell its emergency contraceptive drug brand, i-pill. (ET)

JSPL will sign a MoU with the Orissa government for setting up a Coal to Liquid project in Orissa. (BS)

MRPL plans to expand its presence in the petroleum retail business as soon as the government allows linking petrol and diesel sales to market prices. (BS)

Tata Chemicals is considering an entry into the staples segment. (BL)

Syngene International, the custom research subsidiary of Bangalore-based biopharmaceutical company Biocon, has entered into a discovery and development collaboration with Endo Pharmaceuticals of the United States to develop biological therapeutic molecules against cancer. (BS)

Exide Industries launched eco-friendly batteries for UPS applications that come with a three-year warranty. (BL)

Shree Renuka Sugars has completed the acquisition of Vale Do Ivai S/A Acucar E Alcool (VDI) a Brazilian sugar and ethanol production company and VDI has become a wholly owned subsidiary. (BL)

Crompton Greaves, in partnership with ZTR of Ukraine, bagged Rs6bn contract for the supply and commissioning of 765kV shunt reactors for PGCIL’s various projects across the country. (BL)

Offshore lenders to Wockhardt’s Swiss subsidiary may move court to lay claim to some of the parent’s assets in India, complicating matters for the debt-laden drug maker and its creditors. (ET)

Nagarjuna Construction expects Paschal Form Work (India) Pvt Ltd, its new JV with Paschal Werk G Maier GmbH, to post a turnover of Rs1bn in the first year of its operations. (BS)

Neyveli Lignite plans to generate 1,700MW under green technologies of the company’s total installed capacity of 10,000MW by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2017. (BS)

Great Eastern Shipping said it had taken board approval to bring an initial public offer for its subsidiary, Great Ship. (BS)

United Breweries Group is exiting its holding in Aventis Pharma by selling a 10.3% stake in the company, in a deal worth Rs4.1bn. (BS)

Jay Shree Tea is in the process of acquiring 100% stake in M. P. Chini Industries Ltd. (BL)

Dhanlaxmi Bank said it would raise Rs2bn in the last week of March from bonds to funds its business growth. (ET)

Petrol and diesel prices in 13 major cities are set to go up, the second hike in less than two months, with the petroleum ministry considering a higher price for Euro-IV complaint fuels. (BS)

The Planning Commission is likely to scale down the average growth rate for the eleventh plan period to 8% from the earlier 9%. (BS)

The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission said, investment in the infrastructure sector during the XIth Plan will be close to the target of US$500bn, largely due to the telecom sector. (BL)

Indian Railways may have to rework sections of the route alignment of its Rs508bn dedicated freight corridor project to avoid acquiring land from those who are not ready to part with it. (BL)

The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas said that the domestic capacity to handle imported LNG is likely to rise by about 7mtpa to reach 20mtpa by 2011-12. (BL)

The government has directed public and private telecom players to get security clearance for procuring telecom equipment/software from foreign vendors. (ET)

The direct tax receipts are seen growing around 10% yoy and touch Rs3.6trn. (ET)

The government approved Rs6.5bn for a scheme that aims at improving compilation of statistical data for socio economic parameters for helping states better formulate their plans. (ET)

The final draft for GST could be out by May this year, after the empowered committee of state finance ministers meet next month. (FE)