Daily News Roundup - Dec 22 2010

JSW Steel will become India’s largest steel company by capacity, as it agreed to buy a controlling 41.29% stake in Ispat Industries for Rs21.5bn. (BS)

ONGC and Russian conglomerate Sistema have agreed to merge their oil & gas businesses in Russia under a joint venture, in a no-cash deal where the Indian firm will have a 25% shareholding with a say in the management. (ET)



Gas transportation companies such as GAIL and Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd may soon be able to charge a lower rate than that determined by the PNGRB or those earlier approved on a cost-plus basis. (BS)

Mahindra & Mahindra introduced its 4X4 off roader the Thar CRDe in India. (ET)

The 3,000 MW NTPC power plant at Kaniha, the second largest power plant in the country, has slipped into critical condition with barely one day coal stock at its stockyard. (BS)

Tata Motors is developing special variants of the Nano for the European and US markets, which will be launched in 2011 and 2012, respectively. (BS)

BHEL is mulling a partnership with Japanese automaker Toyota to make electric vehicles in India. (BL)

Tata Group has forayed into marketing essential commodities like pulses under its brand. The group’s agro-chemical arms Tata Chemicals and Rallis India will procure pulses from farmers and sell it in the local market. (ET)

Bombay High Court said it cannot decide on Lavasa Corporation’s writ petition against the ministry of environment and forest’s stop-work order in isolation, and all litigation against the company’s proposed hill station township project near Pune needed to be clubbed together. (ET)

Jain Irrigation will grow its presence in contract farming and food processing apart from expanding in drip irrigation for which the company has charted out a Rs3.5bn capital expenditure plan. (BL)

Coal India is close to buying a stake between 10% to 15% in an Australian mine owned by Peabody, a US company. (ET)

RIL said it will invest US$450mn along with Russian petrochemical firm Sibur in setting up a butyl rubber plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat. (ET)

HPCL has lined up a capex of Rs500bn over the next five years, which includes an expansion at its Vizag refinery and a greenfield refinery on the west coast of Maharashtra. (FE)

Indian Oil Corp is losing Rs1.2bn a day in revenue on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below their imported cost. (FE)

Lanco Infratech has got an EPC contract worth Rs41bn from a subsidiary of Moser Baer Projects. (FE)

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into a licensing, technology transfer, manufacturing and marketing agreement with R-Pharm of Russia. (FE)

SAIL is talking with a state-run South African company to set up a steel plant there to tap the resources of the continent’s biggest producer of the metal. (FE)

Punjab & Sind Bank raised its base rate to 9% from 8.45% per annum and increased its benchmark prime lending rate by 0.50% to 14%. (FE)

India's apparel exports registered a modest year-on-year growth of 1.5% to US$728mn in October, 2010. (ET)

The Plan panel has asked the Finance Ministry to examine the possibility of setting up several Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) to fund core sector development activities in the country. (ET)