Daily News Roundup - Apr 7 2010

NTPC's plan to enter nuclear power generation business might take off soon, with the government planning to allocate a site for the development of 2X700mw capacity to the proposed NTPC-NPCIL JV. (FE)

NTPC plans to borrow Rs200bn in financial year 2010-11, 70% of which has already been tied up, as it quadruples generation capacity. (BS)

BHEL along with two of its other JV partners are expected to commence work on the Rs25bn Integrated Coal Gassification Combined Cycle power plant at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh in June 2010. (BS)

BHEL’s Tiruchy unit plans to increase the R&D spend by 73% to Rs4bn. (BS)

Tata Steel reported 18% growth in sales to 6.17mt during the fiscal 2010, against 5.23mt in the same period last year. (BL)

IOC refineries have achieved overall capacity utilization of 102% during 2009-10. (BL)

Wipro plans to exit its babycare and vanaspati business. (BS)

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro, announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Philips to offer Blu-ray middleware and solution development services around Philips' developed Blu-ray technology. (BL)

Malvinder and Shivinder Singh stepped down from the board of Religare Enterprises to focus on the group’s healthcare business, handing over charge of the financial services firm to the family’s trusted aide Sunil Godhwani. (ET)

Godrej Consumer Products acquired the Indonesian household product maker PT Megasari Mamsur, as well as its distribution arm, PT Intrasari Raya for Rs12bn in an all cash deal. (BS)

Jindal Power, an arm of JSPL, raised Rs100.6bn loan for its 2,400MW Tamnar power project in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. (BS)

Unitech has formed a panel of five board members to push the demerger of its non-core business into a separate entity. (ET)

In a bid to expand its haircare portfolio, Kolkata-based Emami is test-marketing a few products, including a shampoo, in Andhra Pradesh. (BS)

ACC plans to ramp up its annual production capacity to 30mtpa by the end of this financial year through brownfield projects. (BS)

ICRA Online, the wholly-owned subsidiary of ICRA, has partnered with the UK-based IDEAcarbon to offer carbon rating services in India. (BL)

Suzlon secured an order from the Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals to set up, operate and maintain an 18MW wind energy project at Adodar in Porbandar district. (BL)

Punj Lloyd bagged two orders worth Rs2.4bn for a processing unit and setting up offsite facilities at the Mangalore Refinery. (FE)

Simplex Infrastructures secured orders worth Rs21.7bn during fourth quarter of 2009-10 fiscal. (FE)

NMDC will be added to the FTSE All-World Index and FTSE All-Emerging Index effective from the start of trading on April 13, 2010. (FE)

Reliance Power will soon start generating revenues from the sale of electricity as it has started commercial operations of its first unit at Rosa Power Project in Uttar Pradesh. (BS)

Ruchi Group has signed a pact with Japanese conglomerate Mitsui to form a JV company for setting up steel service centers across the country to cater to automotive, white goods and construction sector. (FE)

Coal India plans to invest Rs60bn in foreign acquisitions this financial year and is currently evaluating 10 overseas proposals that include five proposals for equity infusion. (BS)

Coal India’s profit after tax jumped 300% to Rs83bn last year, compared to Rs20bn during 2008-09. (BS)

Coal India plans to step up its focus on value addition and plans to invest US$480mn in setting up 20 washeries with a capacity of 111.1mt over the next two to three years. (BL)

Essar Oil plans to lay a 160-km pipeline from Durgapur to Kolkata to transport gas from its CBM blocks to consumers in West Bengal. (BS)

Dish TV plans to expand its subscriber base to 10mn in one year from 7mn today. (BS)

Temasek Holdings Pte is seeking stakes in Indian power producers, including GMR Group, as they double capacity to meet demand. (BS)


Sponge iron industry in Chhattisgarh plunged into raw material crisis as production in nearly half the units had been suspended after disruption in the supply of iron-ore from Orissa. (BS)

DTH subscribers are likely to double in the next 2 years, up from 20mn at present. (BS)

The online auction system for third generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum will prevent firms from placing unrealistic bids. (BS)

Private and cooperative sugar mills have appealed to the Centre to reconsider its decision on extending duty-free import of raw sugar for bulk consumers till April 30, 2011. (BS)

Data released by TRAI, in the quarter ended December 2009, indicated a rapid increase in the subscriber base from rural areas. (BS)

The government is planning to link domestic coal prices to the gross calorific value of the product, a step which may lead to an increase in prices of the fuel. (BS)

The biofuel industry is finding it tough to remain in business, with both government pricing and raw material availability working against them. (BS)

In its endeavour to make the public issue process more efficient, SEBI has proposed to reduce the time between the closure of the issue and listing to 12 days from May 1. (BS)

India and the US on Tuesday set up a Cabinet level economic partnership forum that is expected to encourage massive investment by US companies in Indian infrastructure, while the US will want to be reciprocated by deeper financial sector reforms. (FE)