Daily News Roundup - Oct 18 2010

State Bank of India would raise Rs10bn by issuing long-term bonds of 10 and 15-year duration to retail investors. (BL)

ONGC reported oil find in its pre-NELP on land block in Cauvery Basin and gas discovery in its shallow offshore block in Krishna Godavari Basin. (BL)

Coal India received assurance from PMO that it could fully exploit its coal reserves, which were earlier constrained by the environment ministry. (BS)



Tata Motors' group global sales grew 19% to 86,996 units in September and 38% to 0.51mn units this fiscal. (BL)

ABG Shipyard takes control of Western Shipyard by raising its stake to 60.3% from 19.7%; however, there were no details on the timing of the open offer. (BL)

GMR Infrastructure says it was entering the solar power area with a 25MW photovoltaic plant to be set up in Gujarat. (BL)

Lupin has entered into a settlement with Warner Chilcott Plc and its subsidiary, on pending patent litigations involving oral contraceptive products. (BL)

L&T plans to sell its entire holding in Kalindee Rail Nirman. (ET)

Reliance Industries has raised US$1.5bn from sale of dollar bonds. (BL)

State Bank of India sees a rise in its lending rates shortly - including the base rate, prompted by tight liquidity conditions and rising cost of funds. (BS)

Three leading US based PE firms to buy 15-18% stake in Hero Honda, as a part of two-legged transaction that could see Japan’s Honda completely exit the company. (ET)

Gitanjali gems to acquire Italy’s DIT brands in a month’s time. (ET)

Godrej Consumer Products to undertake an integration exercise under which a few of it acquired brands would be launched in India within 6 months. (ET)

Bharti Airtel may have to pay more than Rs18bn to buy out Telecom Consultants of India’s 30% stake in its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom. (ET)

Power Ministry asks NHPC to speed up projects to achieve targets. (ET)

MMTC out of this year’s disinvestment list, says Finance Ministry. (ET)

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority reduced prices of eight medicines sold by Cipla, Sun Pharma and Unichem by up to 85%, in one of the sharpest price cuts over the past few years. (ET)

Suzlon Energy subsidiary Hansen Transmissions is planning to sell its industrial gearbox division to Sumitomo Heavy Industries for Rs 4.7bn. (BS)

Bombay Rayon Fashions will raise US$79mn through issue of shares in overseas markets. (BS)

Dredging Corp. has secured a capital dredging contract worth Rs 1.7bn from Ennore port. (BS)

Dr Reddy's Laboratories says it had received an approval from the US FDA for lansoprazole delayed-release capsules. (DNA)

ArcelorMital says it would cut the investment and size of its proposed Rs500bn Jharkhand plant to half for now. (FE)

ONGC to invest Rs88bn for Mumbai High redevelopment. (FE)

Hotel Leelaventure to foray in to mid-market brand with ‘Leela Garden. (FE)

Union bank of India raises base rate by 50bps. (FE)

Indian Oil Corp hikes petrol prices by Re0.72/litre. (FE)

Oil India is looking for tie-ups with shale gas companies in the US, Poland and Australia. (BS)

NTPC is struggling to acquire land for its two proposed super thermal power projects in Orissa - 4,800 MW plant in Sundergarh district and 3,200MW plant in Dhenkanal district. (BS)
Economy Snippets

WPI rose 8.6% in September, higher than the 8.5% yoy rise seen in August, according to government data. (BL)

Government launched the ninth round of bidding under NELP, putting up 34 oil and gas blocks for auction. (BS)

Private project developers accounted for nearly 50% of the 4,935MW capacity commissioned in the first six months of the current year. (BL)

GSM-based mobile operators added 12.4mn subscribers in September to take their total tally to 494mn. (BL)

NSE and BSE will start the 15-minute pre-open session call auction from today to reduce price volatility and better price discovery. (DNA)

Forex reserves rose US$1.6bn to US$296bn for the week ended October 8th. (FE)

IMF raises India’s growth forecast to 9.7% against 9.4% earlier. (ET)