Daily News Roundup - Dec 29 2010

SBI Deputy Managing Director Pratip Chaudhuri is likely to replace incumbent Chairman O P Bhatt when he retires in March 2011 after completing his five-year term. (BS)

SBI raised Rs5bn at 9.05% through three-month certificates of deposits. (BS)

HPCL may look at merging Prize Petroleum Company Ltd with its internal exploration and production arm HP E&P. (BS)

Lakshmi N Mittal and HPCL plan to sell a 10% stake each in the under-construction Bathinda refinery in a public offering in Q4 of 2011 to raise Rs10-15bn. (BS)

NTPC will takeover 3,000-odd acres of vacant land from Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS) in Jharkhand to set up 1320 mw of thermal power generation capacity at an investment of RS66bn. (ET)

BHEL has secured two breakthrough orders from Indian Railways for the development, manufacture and supply of 3-Phase IGBT-based propulsion systems for Electric Locomotives and AC Electric Multiple Units (EMUs). (ET)

Punj Lloyd secured order from Hirco Group for two commercial buildings to be completed in 24 months

Gitanjali Gems has planned a "restructured jewellery brand holding company" where it will divest 10% of equity to private equity investors, to raise US$100mn. (BS)

Gitanjali Gems has acquired 90% stake in Glantti Italia, a company based in Milan. (BS)

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today set aside Sebi’s order on Bhushan Group companies on violation of takeover regulations in their acquisition of Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel Ltd. (BS)

Reliance Infrastructure has bagged the consultancy contract for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) relating to power distribution for Patna. (BL)

IRDA gave its second stage approval to joint ventures of Religare and Union Bank for their health insurance venture and Edelweiss-Tokio for life insurance business. (ET)

Investments for expanding Taro’s research and capacity in India will be Sun Pharma’s top agenda for the upcoming year. (ET)

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd will raise the prices of its products across all categories in January due to increase in commodity rates. (ET)

Eyeing properties overseas to meet the growing domestic demand for manganese ore, which is pegged to touch 4.5mn tons by 2012, the state-owned MOIL has invited bids from global firms to form JVs for such acquisitions. (ET)

Cipla Ltd has received fresh notices from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, demanding Rs477mn in respect of the drug Salbutamol and an amount of Rs254.6mn in respect of the drug Ciprofloxacin. (ET)

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has received approval from the US health regulator to market and distribute generic Lithium Carbonate tablets, used for the treatment of manic depression, in the US market. (ET)

Tech Mahindra has partnered with software giant Microsoft to offer customized CRM solutions for telecom service providers. (FE)

MindTree intends to convert the wireless products business of its wholly-owned subsidiary MindTree Wireless Pvt Ltd into a design services business. (BS)

Tata Coffee Ltd has declared an interim dividend of Rs5 per share on the face value of Rs10 each for the current financial year. (FE)

Nitin Fire Protection Industries said US-based Worthington Industries, a manufacturer of pressure cylinders, has picked up 60% stake for US$21 million in its subsidiary, Nitin Cylinders (NCL) and NCL will now be a JV between Worthington and Nitin Fire. (ET)
Economy Snippets

Two months after the country’s drug price regulator reduced the maximum retail price of popular antibiotic Ciplox TZ by about 75% to Rs25 for a strip, consumers are still charged over four times by chemists. (ET)

The government has allocated five million tons of additional wheat and rice to states for sale to the poor at subsidized rates amid signs of food prices hardening again. (ET)

Railways has raised freight rate for iron ore, coal, sugar and a few other commodities by up to 4%, a move that threatens to arrest the downward trend in headline inflation. (FE)

PNGRB, the downstream regulator in the energy sector, has proposed to give gas pipeline operators freedom to compete in overlapping areas so that consumers benefit by way of lower tariff and softer gas prices. (FE)

Overseas subsidiaries of Indian NBFCs might have to drastically cut back pledging assets of their parent firms when they want to access low-cost funds from foreign markets. (FE)