Daily News Roundup - Jan 4 2011

NTPC is likely to float Rs170bn tender for sourcing super-critical equipment for its upcoming projects. (ET)

Tata Power has terminated agreement to raise US$300mn through selling 14-15% stake in its two coal SPVs to the private equity firm Olympus Capital Holdings Asia. (ET)



A stake sale deal between Patni Computer Systems and iGate has been delayed due to procedural issues. (BS)

GAIL has entered into an agreement with ONGC, under which it will exclusively purchase and market the natural gas produced from the latter’s various fields during the next three years. (BS)

HDFC Bank has raised interest rates on retail term deposits by up to 1.25% across various maturities. (ET)

Kotak Mahindra Bank has increased interest rates on retail term deposits of various maturities by up to 0.50%. (ET)

Reliance Industries is mulling the establishment of a US$1.2bn liquefied natural gas import terminal on either the East or West Coast to meet demand at its refineries and petrochemical plants. (FE)

Jindal Power plans to launch its initial public offer to raise Rs72bn by May, 2011. (ET)

Dabur has completed the acquisition of the US based personal care firm Namaste Group for US$100mn. (ET)

Coal India will enter into contracts with private firms to develop underground coal gasification projects and set up at least one 50:50 joint venture to create marketing infrastructure and sell the gas. (ET)

IOC is looking at increasing its imports from Angola in southern Africa. (BS)

KEC International has bagged three substation orders worth Rs9.8bn from Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company and Power Grid Corporation of India. (ET)

Larsen & Toubro has bagged Rs11bn order from various power plant developers, including Maithon Power, Nebha Power, Balco and Sterlite Energy. (ET)

Jaiprakash Associates cement shipments in December rose 28% to 1.35mn tons. (ET)

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

SAIL has hiked prices across product categories by around Rs1,000 per ton to offset an increase in input costs. (ET)

Sesa Goa is seeking legal opinion on its failed bid for Bellary Steel & Alloys. (BS)

The Mumbai patent office has rejected American drug maker Abbott Laboratories' patent application for an HIV combination drug. (ET)

Pfizer has taken Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to court to delay the launch of the Indian drug maker’s low-cost version of atorvastatin in the US market. (ET)

Infosys has started visiting campuses of about 1,100 colleges across the country and has so far given out offers to 20,000 students for the next year. (BL)

The Government panel has said there are no ecological concerns over South Korean firm Posco’s planned US$12bn steel mill in Orissa. (ET)

Reliance Capital’s unit Reliance Exchangenext has bought a 26% stake in Indian Commodity Exchange from Indiabulls Financial Services. (ET)

Ambuja Cements reported a 5.6% yoy rise in sales in December to 1.8mn tons. (FE)

JSL Stainless will double its coke oven capacity to 800,000tons with the help of JSW Steel. (BS)

Air India has posted a cash profit of Rs0.2bn in November ‘10 with as many as 108 of the 194 flights operated on the route network making cash profits. (BL)
Economy Snippets

Prime Minister's economic advisory panel may defer hike in diesel prices to next fiscal due to high inflation rate. (ET)

India's exports in November rose 26.5% yoy to US$18.8bn. (ET)