Daily News Roundup - March 26 2010

Board of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom has approved the sale of most African assets to Bharti Airtel. (ET)

Power Ministry rules out possibility of allowing NTPC to sell power in the open market. (BS)

ONGC loses Uganda oil property to Chinese oil company CNOOC. (ET)

IOC and Oil India are not planning to hike their bid for Gulfsands. (BS)

SBI plans to raise Rs150bn via right issues in Q3 FY11. (ET)

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone to launch iphone 3GS from March 26, 2010. (BS)

Axis Bank is in talks to buy a 5% stake in Max New York Life Insurance for around Rs2bn. (BS)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case against Unitech in connection with the award of 2G licenses. (ET)

AT&T acquired 8.07% stake in Tech Mahindra for Rs1.6bn by exercising a 2005 option agreement to buy a stake in the company. (BS)

Tata Motors has offered to convert bonds worth US$431mn into shares about a year before they mature. (BS)

Maruti Suzuki India to invest Rs12.5bn to double capacity at its K-series petrol engine unit in Gurgaon to 500,000 by 2012. (BS)

Cairn India announced an increase in the estimates of potential crude oil peak output from its Rajasthan oilfields by 37%, to 240,000 barrels per day. (BS)

L&T has bagged orders worth Rs15bn from various vendors for construction of hospitals, residential towers and factories. (FE)

German drug maker Bayer files patent infringement case against Cipla in connection with its cancer drug Nexavar. (ET)

Delhi High Court has shot down a plea by Bristol Myers Squibb to ban Ranbaxy from launching a generic version of its hepatitis-B drug Baraclude. (ET)

Bank of India is raising US$500mn via a 5 ½ year loan at around 200bps above Libor. (ET)

Tata Steel’s Rs210bn plant in Orissa is likely to start construction work next month. (ET)

The USFDA recommended doctors to temporarily stop using GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix vaccine for rotavirus immunisation in the US. (BS)

Unitech Wireless, a joint venture between Norwegian firm Telenor and real estate company Unitech, to roll out mobile services in six more circles, including Mumbai and Kolkata, over the next two quarters. (ET)

Wipro Infotech is among the seven short-listed bidders for a key Rs20bn government project which will help security agencies keep track of criminal activities across the country. (BL)

IVRCL achieved financial closure for converting two-lane to four-lane road project coming up on the Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border. (BL)

National Aviation Company Ltd (Nacil), which runs national carrier Air India, may opt for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to finance its modernisation and recovery plans. (BS)

Maruti Suzuki would invest around Rs25bn for supplementing engine and plant capacities and setting up an R&D centre at Rohtak in Haryana. (ET)

Reliance Mediaworks plans to raise US$55mn via issue of shares to its existing investors. (ET)

Cipla sold its emergency contraceptive brand, i-pill, to Piramal Healthcare in a deal worth Rs950mn. (BS)

PowerGrid plans a FPO in September 2010 to raise Rs40bn. (ET)

MSRDC concludes a buyback agreement with Reliance Infra-Hyundai consortium for the Worli-Haji Ali sea link project. (ET)

Bosch management reaches an amicable settlement with its employee’s union at its Bangalore plant. (BS)

Shree Cement to start power trading as an independent business through its subsidiary – Shree Power Trading. (ET)

Alok Industries raises Rs4.6bn via QIP. (BS)

Natco Pharma to re-launch its breast cancer drug Albupax, in the domestic as well as global markets soon. (BL)

Times group to buy a small stake in Nimbus communication and its arm Neo Sports Broadcast. (ET)

Prakash Industries plans to invest Rs33bn in expanding its steel and power generation capacities in Chhattisgarh over the next 4-5 years. (ET)

Suven Life Sciences has received US patent for a compound used in the treatment of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. (ET)

Hyundai Motors is lining up a new release for India to be launched in the second half of 2011, likely to be priced not much higher than that of Maruti’s cheapest variant, the Maruti 800. (BS)

Bajaj Holding ups stake in Force Motors to over 19%.(BS)

Headset manufacturer GN Netcom, has entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with Redington India for expanding its presence in the country. (ET)

Subhash Projects & Marketing Ltd bagged a contract from the Public Works Department of the Rajasthan Government, for development of two-lane highway from Jaipur to Bhilwara on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. (BL)

RBI to continue its exit from the ultra loose monetary policy to check high inflation says Governor D. Subbarao. (ET)

Finance Ministry may give more compensation to oil companies this year, provided auto fuel prices are de-regulated next year. (ET)

Petrol and diesel price may go up marginally in 13 cities from April 1, 2010 due to the introduction of Euro IV (Bharat Stage 4) emission norms. (ET)

Auto exports rise 16% between the period of April’09- Feb’ 10. (ET)

Agriculture sector is likely to grow by an average 3% rate in the 11th five year plan. (BS)

The government chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu sees 8.5% GDP growth in Q4 FY10. (ET)

Cars to cost 1-3% more from April 1st 2010 due to new emission norms and rise in input cost. (BS)

The Finance Minister said that infrastructure bonds issued by both the public as well as private sector entities will qualify for the additional tax deduction of Rs20,000 proposed in Budget 2010-11. (BL)

Private sector banks and non-banking finance companies appear set to join a list of select state owned firms which will be allowed to offer tax-free bonds to investors. (ET)

The government looks all set to examine refinancing of domestic borrowings-funded infrastructure projects through overseas loans. (ET)