Daily News Roundup - Oct 6 2010

Reliance Industries is finalising a new alliance with engineering and project management partner Bechtel Corporation, as it prepares to enter the power sector. (BS)

The Jharkhand government has rejected a forest clearance for a railway link being planned for evacuation of coal from the North Karanpura coalfield operated by Coal India. (BS)



Israel-based pharma company, SoluBest, has entered into collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories to develop a technological platform for solving the problem of drug insolubility. (BL)

Bajaj Auto may hike prices of its two and three-wheeler range. (BL)

Tata Motors is starting open sales of its people's car, the Nano, following the wrapping-up of deliveries to select customers. (BL)

To grab a share of the Rs12bn instant noodle category, the tobacco to FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) major ITC plans to venture into the segment with Sunfeast Yippee, instant noodles. (BL)

In the first half of the current fiscal, SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant produced 0.98mt of saleable steel recording 2% growth over the same period of last year and 1.049mt of crude steel. (BL)

Axis Bank plans to sell as much as US$200mn of commercial paper. (FE)

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare has revamped its flagship Horlicks brand and expects to maintain its leadership position at 52% (market share) this fiscal. (ET)

GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare is in the process of finalising the quantum of price hike in the health food drinks segment. (FE)

IVRCL Assets & Holdings Ltd has approved issue of equity shares on a preferential basis for cash at a price of Rs129 a share, aggregating Rs1.5bn to Unit Trust of India Investment Advisory Services Ltd, for its Ascent India Fund III. (BL)

A tax demand of Rs5.7bn has been raised on Mahindra Satyam for illegally claiming tax credit on fictitious income during 2003-04 to 2008-09. (FE)

Government approved the divestment of its 10% stake in Shipping Corporation of India and allowed the company to issue fresh equity of 10% of the paid-up capital. (FE)

JSL Stainless said it has increased the proposed investment on phase-II development of its Orissa plant to Rs64bn to augment production capacity to 1 mt per annum. (ET)

Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd has raised US$52mn through private placement of shares to institutional investors. (FE)

Godrej Properties has signed a development agreement for a 1.35-acre plot in Chembur. (ET)

Vedanta Resources has won the bauxite mining bid for Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation. (ET)

The government plans to relax the bidding norms for the coming ninth round of auctioning of oil and gas blocks under NELP, as the previous round of auctioning failed to generate much interest. (BS)

With the Commonwealth Games not fetching many customers, the government has released a large part of the inventory that it had earlier reserved for the event leading to fall in room rates. (BS)

Private equity (PE) firms invested about US$2,047mn across 88 deals during the quarter ended September 2010, according to a study by Venture Intelligence, a Chennai-based research firm focused on private equity and M&A transaction activity in India. (BS)

Government is working on a proposal to open a new overseas borrowing window for Indian corporates enabling them to raise up to US$1bn annually exclusively for infrastructure projects. (ET)

Foreign direct investment in the country's services sector almost halved to US$1.08bn in the first four months of the fiscal. (ET)

The government will next week launch the ninth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp) for the oil and gas sector. (FE)