Daily News Roundup - Aug 2 2011

NHPC would invest around Rs150bn for developing two projects in the neighbouring country Myanmar. (ET)

As many as 20 power generating companies, including NTPC, Tatas, Adani and Essar group, have put in their initial bids for executing the 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Orissa. (ET)

ABB India has won orders worth Rs160mn to supply turnkey power and automation solution for three photovoltaic solar power plants with a combined capacity of 11 megawatts (MW) in India. (ET)



Fortis Healthcare (India) will start six new hospitals in southern and western India that could entail an investment of up to Rs10.5bn.(ET)

Wipro is facing more churn as several senior executives have quit in another round of high-level exits from the company after TK Kurien took over as CEO in January. (ET)

Mahindra Aerospace, said it plans to build 10 and 18 seater airplanes to tap the rising demand in general aviation segment in the country, including organised tours and pilgrimages. (ET)

Suzlon Energy’s board of directors approved a proposal to raise Rs50bn through issue of shares.. (BS)

Strong sales from ACC, Ambuja and UltraTech is likely to push the cement sector back to double-digit growth. Going by the strong sales figures of top companies, industry analysts said the sector may post 11-13 % growth in July. (BS)

The Supreme Court ban on iron ore mining in the Bellary district of Karnataka has hit more than half a dozen steel companies, including JSW Steel and Kalyani Steels manufacturing about 14mn tonne (mt) steel that produces 21 % of the country's iron ore. (BS)

The Kerala Government and TCS have signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up a clutch of facilities in the State, involving big-ticket investments and the company will invest Rs10bn to set up its global training academy at Technocity. (BL)

Gayatri Projects Ltd is in parleys with private-equity (PE) players to raise funds for two of its verticals, power and roads,and is expecting to close the deals during the quarter to partly fund its expansion plans. (BL)

Religare Enterprises, Muthoot Financeand India Infoline Investment are among firms that have lined up retail bond issues which may yield more than 12% compounded returns with varying tenures of 3-5 years. (ET)
Economy Snippets

Exports in June grew by 46.4 per cent to $29.2 billion. (BL)

Amid a difficult global economic scenario, India's GDP growth will slow down to 8.2 per cent in the current fiscal and the inflation rate is expected to remain high at 9 per cent till October, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said today. (ET)

Information technology and IT-enabled service units in special economic zones are going to be allowed the same tax concessions as given to developers of SEZs. (BS)

India’s manufacturing growth fell to a 20-month low to 53.6 in July , due to more expensive inputs, according to the widely tracked HSBC’s Purchasing ManagersIndex(PMI).


While several segments of the automotive sector experienced a slowdown in demand, two-wheelers continued to post better overall sales figures in July with a 13.2 per cent growth from four manufacturers. (BS)

Passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market recorded their sharpest drop in over three years last month. Twelve of the 19 automobile manufacturers posted a sales decline of 10.56 per cent in July, at 173,615 units from 194,122 units during the same period last year. This was the first time that sales went into the negative zone in the last 27 months. (BS)