Daily News Roundup - March 5 2010

Private Banks, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank raise rates on home and auto Loans. (ET)

Government likely to set NMDC floor price for the FPO at 30-35% discount to the current stock price. (ET)

IOC’s Paradip refinery in Orissa to commence operations by November 2012 which may dent the available income tax breaks. (ET)

Infosys plans to have a third of its total revenues coming from new services, including cloud computing and platform-based offerings, over next few years. (ET)

Nissan will continue to source the Pixo, a small car from Maruti Suzuki, until the contract expires in 2012. (BS)

TTML is preparing a war chest of Rs85bn to bid in the forthcoming 3G auctions. (ET)

NMDC is planning to raise long-term contract prices of iron ore by 40-50%, effective April 1, 2010. (BS)

Wipro has rejigged its non-IT businesses along with leadership changes. (ET)

AstraZeneca has sued Sun Pharmaceuticals for challenging the patent on its ulcer drug brand, Nexium IV, in the US market. (BS)

Sudan, Congo, Nigeria, Libya, Ghana, Angola, Egypt and Uganda are among the African countries that ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is focusing on for acquisitions of oil and gas assets. (BL)

Wipro Infotech is betting big on cloud computing and will mainly target the US$4.5bn SME segment to drive its growth. (BL)

NMDC issue will be priced according to the book building route. (BL)

Ashok Leyland to invest Rs30bn over next three years on various expansion projects. (ET)

Suzlon Energy has won an order from Gujarat State Petronet to set up, operate and maintain a 52.5 MW wind energy project in the Rajkot and Porbandar districts of the State. (BL)

Raymond to recast its garment business; to pull out of weak brands. (ET)

Aurobindo Pharma has created a division, Auro Source, within the company to focus on CRAMS. (ET)

Essar Oil plans to invest about Rs40bn in the next three years for developing its three CBM blocks in Jharkhand, Gujarat and West Bengal, having recoverable gas reserve of close to 7tcf. (BS)

Zydus Cadila has commenced the phase II and III of the clinical trials of its H1N1 vaccine. (BS)

Strides Arcolab to buy South Africa-based Aspen’s Brazilian facility for US$75mn. (ET)

Ahluwalia Contracts plans to foray into the construction of power projects. (BS)

Food inflation rises to 17.87% for the week-ended February 20th. (ET)

Center to pump in Rs350bn into PSU Banks over two years. (ET)

GST rates likely to be pegged at above 12%. (ET)

Government to allow power projects situated in SEZs to sell electricity to units outside the zone. (ET)

Direct Tax collection till February stood at Rs2.78 lakh crore, short by Rs1 lakh crore to meet the target set for the fiscal. (ET)

India will have a new policy to auction hydrocarbon assets for exploring oil and gas reserves — Open Acreage Licensing Policy (Oalp) — in 18 months from now. (BS)

Centre to curb movement of 20% non-urea fertilizers. (BL)

Airbus has forecasted that India will require 1,032 aircraft, valued at US$138bn, in the next two decades. (BL)

The Government is inclined to allow an increase in FDI limit beyond the existing 26% in the defence sector on a case-to-case basis. (BL)

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved raising the ceiling for payment of gratuity for private sector employees from Rs 0.35mn to Rs 1mn. (BL)