Daily News Roundup - Jan 3 2011

JSW Group plans to enter the agri business, sell branded fruits & veggies. (ET)

State Bank of India has re-jigged and extended its teaser home and auto loans schemes for three months up to March 2011. (BL)

With an eye on having a global footprint as well as securing supplies of key raw material like coking coal and iron ore, SAIL is looking at building steel plants abroad. (FE)

Hero Group says its exposure in the alleged financial fraud at Citigroup was Rs287.5mn. (ET)

ICICI Bank raised its base rate 50bps to 8.25% and PLR by 25bps to 17%. (ET)

BHEL is exploring the possibility of setting up an assembly unit in Indonesia to grab a sizeable market share of the growing demand for power equipment in the South-East Asian country. (BL)

HDFC Bank decided to increase its base rate by 25bps to 7.75% effective January 1. (ET)

Tata Motors hiked the prices of some its passenger vehicles and all of its commercial vehicles by a range of Rs3,000-30,000. (BS)

Tata Steel plans to ink an agreement with Japan-based Nippon Steel by end-this month to set up a Rs24bn steel plant for producing auto-grade steel. (BS)

JSW Steel emerges the highest bidder for debt-laden Bellary Steel & Alloys. (BS)

Jindal Steel & Power plans to build its first oil refinery to expand its energy business in the domestic and overseas markets. (BS)

ICICI Bank is keen to acquire more local banks to expand in the smaller towns in India. (ET)

Marg is planning to hive-off its residential projects business to a wholly-owned new subsidiary Marg Properties. (BS)

PNB has said that it plans to enter the life and general insurance business and has appointed Boston Consulting Group as its adviser. (TOI)

NTPC plans setting up a 4000MW power project at Pudimadaka in Anakapally mandal of Visakhapatnam district at an approximate cost of Rs230bn. (BS)

iGate, which was expected to announce the acquisition of a controlling stake in Patni Computer at a media conference, has cancelled the event. (ET)

Tata Steel is in talks with Canada’s New Millennium Capital to extend an existing agreement to develop iron ore mines in Canada. (ET)

Indraprastha Gas plans to raise CNG prices by Rs1.25 a kg. (BS)

TVS Motor reported 42% growth; it sold 171,790 units in December 2010 against 120,913 units in the same month of the previous year. (BS)

PNB is planning a foray into the insurance business. (BS)

Corporation Bank raised its base rate to 8.9% from 8.25%, while Dhanlaxmi Bank increased it to 8.25% from 7.5%. (ET)

HCL Infosystems expanded its distribution business in the Middle East by acquiring a 20% in Dubai-based Techmart Telecom Distribution. (ET)

BSNL is set to invite bids from private operators to share its third generation airwaves. (ET)

Auto parts maker Tata Autocomp Systems has filed for an IPO of shares including a fresh issue to raise up to Rs7.5bn. (FE)
Economy Snippets

India’s overall balance of payments surplus slumped to US$3.3bn in the July-September quarter. (ET)

Steel prices are set to rise by about 5% later this week. (ET)

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose to US$295.03bn as on December 24 from US$294.6bn in the previous week. (ET)

The domestic car market grew at least 25% last month over the previous year. (ET)

Sales in the domestic drug retail market rose a healthy 18.4% during 2010. (ET)

Communications and IT Minister promised to overhaul a decade-old telecom policy to address key issues including transparent spectrum allocation mechanism, package for local equipment manufacturing and mergers and acquisitions. (BL)

India plans to overhaul its decade-old telecoms policy, framing new rules on mergers and on radio waves, says telecom minister. (DNA)

Government will impose a 60% import tax on sugar from January 1. (FE)

India's external debt stood at US$296bn as of Sep’ 10, representing an increase of 12.8% over Mar’ 10. (BL)

Government proposes to set up a central regulator for the ports sector on the lines of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. (BL)

State-owned oil firms today raised jet fuel prices by almost 2%. (BS)