Daily News Roundup - Oct 1 2010

L&T bags Rs7bn order from various customers for construction related work. (ET)

L&T infra files for Rs4.5bn bonds public issue. (FE)

Tata Steel to refinance the Rs25bn loan it took. (ET)

SAIL to add 1,725 MW of power generation capacity. (ET)

ICICI Bank estimates loan growth in the current financial year at around 18%; higher than an earlier forecast of 15%. (BS)

M&M enters motorcycle segment with two models. (ET)

SBI hikes deposit rates by 25-75 bps, keeps base rate unchanged. (ET)

PNB raises base rate by 50bps to 8.5%. (BS)

Maruti Suzuki expects to record its highest-ever monthly sales in September with a growth of 32-33% yoy. (BS)

Tata Motors will commercially launch the Tata Aria, a crossover of a sedan and a sports utility vehicle, on October 11. (BL)

Axis Bank revised its base rate to 7.75% from 7.5%. (ET)

IDBI Bank revised its base rate upward by 0.50% to 8.5%. (ET)

ICICI opens first retail outlet in Singapore. (ET)

Reliance Capital has acquired a 4.98% stake in an infra developer Trinethra Infra through an open market transaction. (FE)

ADAG to acquire 26% in ICEX, gets FMC approval. (FE)

Piramal Healthcare to formally close its Vitamin-A factory in adjoining Thane tomorrow. (BS)

Power Grid Corporation is establishing a 1200-kV National Test Station at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. (BL)

Kingfisher Airlines has decided to revamp its capital structure by converting 30% of total debt into equity to reduce the loan burden. (BS)

IVRCL Assets raises Rs2.5bn from IFCI. (ET)

Hindustan Motors plans to double its capacity at its Tiruvallur facility to 24,000 units to support new launches. (BS)

Aarvee Denims has decided to infuse around Rs1.2BN for expanding its manufacturing capacity in two phases. (BS)

Suven Life Sciences to raise Rs900mn for R&D. (BS)

Shriram Properties, the real estate arm of Shriram Group, plans to raise US$100mn this year from private equity investors. (BS)

Firstsource announced a five-year outsourcing partnership with Barclaycard. (BS)
Economy Snippets

Food inflation increased to 16.44% in the week ended September 18 (FE)

India’s current account deficit rose sharply in the quarter ended June 30 to US$13.7bn from US$4.5bn a year ago due to lower invisible surplus and growth in imports outpacing exports. (BS)

Fiscal deficit falls 17% to Rs1.5tn during Apr-Aug (ET)

External debt increased by 4.1% in the first quarter of this year over the level recorded as at the end of March 2010. (BL)

The Department of Industry and Policy has relaxed FDI rules which will mainly help retail firms in JV with foreign retailers and the overseas NBFCs. (BL)

Commodity market regulator FMC today lifted the ban on trading in sugar futures (FE)

Rains 37% below normal in past week as per Meteorological Department (ET)

Fuel for future thermal power projects — both coal and gas — will be allocated under a new score-card system where the use of higher-efficiency units and progress on land acquisition have the highest weights. (BL)