Daily News Roundup - July 23 2010

Bharti-Walmart, the JV between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores, is planning to open 140 retail stores by the end of this year. (BL)

Bharti Airtel has shortlisted IBM, HP, Accenture, Wipro & Tech Mahindra for its billion-dollar-plus IT outsourcing contract in Africa. (ET)

Infosys Rs25bn SEZ in Sarjapur to get operational by March 2011. (ET)

ONGC is interested in buying BP’s stake in the Vietnam project where BP has 35% participating interest in the block.(FE)

Bajaj Auto’s new car project will roll out from its Waluj plant in Aurangabad, not from the one at Chakan, near Pune. (BS)

JSW Steel is likely to announce a stake sale to Japan’s second-largest steel maker, JFE, after about eight months of discussion. (BS)

Arvind Ltd will invest Rs3bn over the next three years to expand its retail footprint. (BS)

In a move that will help Power Grid Corporation fund its expansion plans, the Centre approved a follow-on public offer (FPO), constituting 20 per cent of its existing paid-up capital. (BS)

IL&FS and five large public sector banks BOB, BOI, PNB, UBI and Canara Bank have decided to enter into an agreement for undertaking syndication business for large infrastructure and core sector projects. (BL)

PFC looking into the possibility of converting into a bank, acquiring a bank, or picking up stake in an existing bank. (BL)

IDBI Bank to merge home finance arm with itself. (BS)

UBI launched bill payment and mobile recharge facilities for BSNL mobile subscribers through the bank's ATMs and UMobile service. (BL)

Promoters of United Spirits have pledged 86.55% of their holdings with various banks and financial institutions to raise resources. (FE)

Glenmark Pharma said it has received health regulators nod to market and distribute generic contraceptive pills, Norethindrone Acetate, in the US market. (ET)

SKIL Infrastructure along with SKIL Knowledge Cities Ltd has made an open offer at a price of Rs536 a share to the shareholders of Everonn Education. (BL)

Karnataka Bank is aiming to collect more than Rs1bn of life insurance premiums during the current fiscal. (BL)

RBI permits take-out financing via ECB for new infra projects. (BS)

Food Inflation rose 12.5% on an annual basis in the week-ended July 10 against 12.8% surge in the previous week. (BL)

The Centre and the States have agreed to leave out alcohol, petroleum products and electricity duty out of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) system. (BL)

The government has decided to rope in the private sector for building rail lines and connectivity projects to create additional rail transport capacity in the country. (ET)

Monsoon rains have been 14% less than normal this season with almost the entire central India receiving deficient rains. (FE)