Daily News Roundup - July 19 2010

Reliance Infrastructure has signed a pact with NHAI for developing the Rs30bn Delhi-Agra highway project. (BS)

Infosys closed down its BPO centre in Bangkok due to inability to scale up operations. (ET)



Reliance Industries is said to be in talks with Quicksilver Resources, a Texas-based exploration and production company that’s into development of shale gas, coal-bed methane and tight-sands gas in North America. (DNA)

Tata Steel sells entire 27.03% stake in Malaysia’s Southern Steel Berhad for US$72mn as part of a reorganisation process. (BS)

SAIL is likely to sign an agreement with Posco by October to jointly set up plants in the country at an investment of Rs150bn. (FE)

ITC Ltd pares its holding in Agro Tech Foods by close to 3% from 16.77% to 13.87% in June 2010. (BS)

Cairn India, which recently reached 0.1mn barrels of oil per day production from its Rajasthan fields, is supplying 70,000 barrels to Reliance Industries. (BL)

Singapore-based resorts chain Banyan Tree is in advanced stages of talks to buy a controlling stake in DLF owned Aman Resorts for around US$350mn. (FE)

ONGC Videsh has turned down an offer to buy Lakshmi N Mittal’s stake in a Kazakhstan oil company after its request for data on the project did not elicit any response. (ET)

Escorts plans to raise the prices of its tractors by 2-4 % in August-September owing to rising raw material costs. (BL)

Nikhil Gandhi of SKIL Infrastructure is in talks to acquire a significant stake in Everonn Education. (BS)

Nagarjuna Fertilizers plans to set up a urea manufacturing facility with an initial capacity of 1mn tons in Nigeria. (BL)

Essar mulls IPO of Vodafone Essar in which it holds 33% stake. (BS)

Canara Bank is looking to raise Rs5-6bn during the second quarter of the present fiscal to augment its capital adequacy ratio. (BS)

Polaris Software plans to continue making acquisitions to complement its portfolio of services and products. (BS)

Renuka Sugars, after receiving government approvals to set up a cogeneration power unit on a build-own-operate-transfer basis with the Pune-based Sant Tukaram sugar cooperative, has backed out. (ET)

KS Oils plans to invest Rs2.2bn this fiscal to expand its business in both domestic and overseas markets. (ET)

Titagarh Wagons is looking at expanding its operations into the West Asian market after having acquired the assets and business of Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR), France. (BS)

Godrej Properties plans to convert its IT SEZ project in Hyderabad into a residential one. (BS)

Allcargo Global is planning to enter the shipping segment and offshore oilfield services within next two to three months. (BS)

GVK Power is looking to increase its holding in BAIL by acquiring other stakes held by shareholders. (BS)

Cera Sanitaryware plans to acquire a company or a brand in Europe and intends to infuse Rs600mn for capacity expansion. (BS)

CCCL Infrastructure Ltd, part of Consolidated Construction signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a SEZ for food processing industry at Tuticorin in southern Tamil Nadu. The project is likely to attract an investment of Rs25bn. (BS)

Prithvi Information is in the process of acquiring another US company worth about US$5mn. (BS)

MAX India promoter plans to consolidate holding in the insurance and healthcare firm by buying up to 5% this year through the creeping acquisition route. (ET)


Core inflation rose sharply to 8.6 % in June, more than double from 3.5 % in December 2009. (BS)

Foreign exchange reserves rose by US$1.2bn to US$279bn for the week ending July 9. (BL)

GSM telecom operators added over 12mn new users in June, higher than 11mn added in May. (ET)

The insurance regulator IRDA is likely to meet on July 20, 2010 the heads of insurance companies to discuss issues related to the proposed IPO guidelines. (BS)

The Reserve Bank of India has extended the second daily liquidity adjustment facility for commercial banks by two weeks and it didn’t extend the facility under which banks could borrow against 0.5 % of their holdings of statutory liquidity ratio bonds. (BS)

The country's installed passenger vehicle manufacturing capacity that includes SUVs and MPVs has crossed a significant milestone of the 3mn mark. (BL)

Takeovers are set to get costlier with a SEBI panel favouring making it mandatory for the acquirer to make an offer for up to 100% stake in any listed company. (BS)

The Supreme Court has ruled that the electricity regulatory commissions are vested with the powers to fix tariffs for electricity. (ET)