Daily News Roundup - June 18 2010

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Essar have all refused to participate in the telecom regulator’s latest consultation process to set a price for second-generation (2G) spectrum, citing lack of transparency by Trai. (ET)

RIL in talks for acquiring 26% stake in Papavav Shipyard. (ET)

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare plans to enter the premium cookies market. (ET)

JSPL has got three years extension to begin constructing its US$2.1 billion steel plant in Bolivia as against the original deadline of 2010. (ET)

Ranbaxy may close down one of its biggest global bulk drug production units at Mohali and is sourcing few products made at the facility. (ET)

Infosys Technologies has approached the Tamil Nadu government for 200 acres of land near Chennai for setting up a development centre. (BS)

Mahindra Satyam is likely to announce a pay hike for all its employees on July 1. (BS)

Reliance Power has started generation from the second unit of the Rosa Power Project in Uttar Pradesh. (BL)

Reliance Communications plans to hive off its direct-to-home (DTH) and internet protocol TV (IPTV) businesses into a separate company Reliance Digital Works. (BS)

Tata Motors has piped Maruti Suzuki India as sole supplier of close to 2,000 cars, jeeps and trucks for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October for movement of VIPs, international delegates and athletes’ families. (BS)

Tata Motors is charting a strategy for a 25% carbon dioxide reduction in its Jaguar and Land Rover models. (BL)

Tata Motors today launched a new offering in the Winger range, the Tata Winger Platinum, in Chandigarh. (BS)

Mahindra & Mahindra, Arabia Holdings and Ras Al-Khaimah Transport Investments have joined hands for a joint venture in Emirates of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE for vehicle armouring. (BL)

Punjab National Bank would pick up 64% stake in JSC Dana Bank in Kazakhstan. (BS)

Punjab National Bank to raise US$100mn fund for overseas expansion. (FE)

Bajaj Hindusthan’s board approved the company’s merger with its unit Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar. (ET)

Foreign companies line up for a share of India’s US$3.5bn solar business pie. (ET)

Religare to buy boutique AMC’s in US. (FE)

Jet Airways has entered into a code-share agreement with United Airlines, giving its customers access to wider network connectivity between the United States and India. (BL)

Brigade Enterprises has announced that it will raise up to Rs7.5bn by the issue of equity-based securities to various investors by means of public or private offering or qualified institutional placement or through preferential share allotment. (BS)

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, has entered into a technology collaboration with Wipro, to offer co-branded products and services on Hitachi technology. (BL)

MindTree, which has bagged the application development and maintenance services contract of the Unique Identification project ‘Aadhaar', is eyeing a greater share of the UID pie, with more processes coming up for bidding. (BL)

Duncans Industries has roped in Delhi-based Jaypee Group for the revival and rehabilitation of its fertiliser division. (BL)

Food price inflation for week ended June 5 was at 16.12% compared to 16.74% in the previous week. (ET)

According to deputy governor K C Chakrabarty, RBI favours giving banks the freedom to decide interest rates on their savings deposits. (BS)

RBIhas asked all banks to go back to their boards and re-work their plans on financial inclusion. (BS)

The government is likely to postpone the launch of the mobile number portability (MNP) scheme to early next year. (BS)

India plans to embark on a programme to tap the shale oil reserves in the country after the directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) found substantial reserves of the gas in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. (BS)

CERC has notified its regulations on ‘Sharing of Inter State Transmission Charges and Losses’. These regulations would implement the point of connection method of sharing the cost of inter-state transmission services in India. (BS)