Daily News Roundup - Dec 20 2010

Munjal family and Japan’s Honda Motor formally announced the end of their 26-year-old JV, paving the way for Honda to directly access the Indian market and leaving the Hero group as the majority owner of the world’s largest maker of two-wheelers. (ET)

Tata Steel is in negotiations to dispose off its South African plant and assets to raise upwards of US$150mn in cash. (ET)



ONGC approves stock split and a bonus share issue. (BS)

NMDC’s proposed JV with Russia’s Severstal will give the latter direct access to the Indian steel market while also diversifying the local mining company into steelmaking to boost revenues. (ET)

TCS bagged an Rs850mn three-year deal for implementing smart card-based Financial Inclusion Solution for Indian Bank. (ET)

UK’s drug regulator asks Ranbaxy to recall three batches of Pravastatin, its anti-cholesterol tablets, on failure to update safety warnings in its information leaflets. (BS)

Coal India has put in a bid to buy US-based Sydney complex, an arm of Massey Energy, for about US$1bn. (ET)

Tata Steel is contemplating the possibility of bidding for Ispat Industries. (ET)

Fitch says the asset quality of SBI remains an area of concern due to its high non-performing loans. (ET)

MoEF has accused Adani Group’s Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone of destruction of mangroves in Gujarat. (ET)

ONGC Videsh hopes to sign an agreement to take a stake in the Trebs and Titov in the Arctic. (ET)

NALCO has shortlisted two firms for supply of coal for its Rs180bn aluminium-cum-power project in Indonesia. (ET)

ONGC may not contribute at all to future development in the Rajasthan oilfield unless Cairn renegotiates the contract which puts the entire royalty burden on the state-run firm although it only holds a 30% interest. (ET)

A new investor could take charge of Patni Computer by the end of the week. (ET)

Tata Group is looking to expand its business in China. (ET)

Indiabulls Real Estate receives possession of the 10.5-acre land parcel, comprising Bharat Mill and Podar Mill at Worli in Mumbai, it paid the final instalment of its Rs21bn bid to NTC. (ET)

L&T Finance’s IPO is likely to hit the market in the last quarter of FY11. (ET)

Tata Motors plans to raise the price of all its passenger vehicles, with the exception of Nano and Aria, by up to 1.5% next month. (ET)

Tata Power expects to augment its power generation capacity in the country by over 60% in 2011. (ET)

Bharati Shipyard postpones its plan to set up a ship-building yard, in tie up with Apeejay group, at Geonkhali in East Midnapore district of West Bengal till the middle of next year. (BS)

The O P Jindal Group has emerged as a strong contender for Ispat Industries. (BS)

Moser Baer plans US$500mn to US$600mn investment over three to four years for expanding the manufacturing capacity of crystalline cells and crystalline silicon modules in India. (ET)

The oil ministry may seek a legal opinion on Cairn Energy’s conditional applications seeking approval for the sale of a majority stake in its Indian unit to Vedanta Resources. (BS)

United Phosphorus acquired US-based RiceCo LLC, along with its subsidiaries and certain assets of the international business of its affiliate company. (BL)

Union Bank of India raised its benchmark prime lending rate by 50bps to 13.25%. (BS)

Indian Overseas Bank revised lending rates upwards by 25bps to 13.25%. (BS)

Telecom tribunal rejects the plea of Tata Tele Services, seeking additional spectrum from the government to level the playing field with rival GSM operators. (BS)

Pipavav Shipyard led consortium moves High Court against ONGC on Bombay High deal. (ET)

Areva is open to giving a minority stake in its uranium enrichment plant to Nuclear Power Corporation of India. (BS)

Tata Power is all set to commission the first 800MW unit of ultra mega power project at Mundra in Gujarat by September 2011. (BS)

NTPC today said it was willing to buy gas for its Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects in Gujarat at a rate prescribed by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM). This reverses the company’s earlier stand on the matter. (BS)

ONGC signs MoU with Dhaka to open new transport corridor. (BS)

Videocon plans to sell stake in energy business. (ET)

Gammon India emerges the highest bidder for 135-acre plot at Dombivli owned by PAL-Peugeot. (BS)

Ashok Leyland opens its new manufacturing unit in the UAE. (BS)

Private equity firm Actis and an affiliate of Government of Singapore Investment Corporation will each invest Rs3.5bn in GVK Power and Infrastructure’s energy subsidiary GVK Energy. (ET)

IDFC Asset Management Company sells 25% of its stake to Natixis Global Asset Management to enhance its distribution business. (BL)

IDFC invests Rs1.5bn in TRIL Infopark to develop Ramanujan IT City at Chennai. (BS)

Orient Green Power Company has placed orders for windmills for 205 MW of installed capacity, worth Rs 12bn. (BL)

PTC India is planning to expand the capital base of PTC India Financial Services by issuance of fresh shares through an IPO. (DNA)

Foreign exchange reserves dipped US$971mn during the week ended December 10. (ET)

The apex drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India has come out with a comprehensive clinical trial inspection programme for the country. (BS)

Advance corporate tax collections by the top 90 companies in the Mumbai region were up 29% to Rs165.80bn for the quarter ended December. (BL)

Food inflation rose for the fourth week to 9.46% in the week ended December 4. (ET)

TDSAT has set aside TRAI’s notification mandating broadcasters charge from DTH and IPTV providers only up to 35% of rates paid by cable operators for their channels against the earlier practice of 50%. (ET)

Finance Ministry has agreed to provide Rs3bn to enhance competitiveness of the domestic capital goods industry. (ET)

GSM operators added 17.45mn new subscribers in November. (ET)

Government has set January 5 as the cut-off date for power projects to shift to a tariff-based competitive bidding regime. (BL)

As it prepares to address the criticism of not being tough on erring corporates, the government plans to ask telecom firms to pay for excess spectrum allotted to them during the period placed under review by the Supreme Court. (TOI)