Daily News Roundup - Aug 4 2011

Dabur has introduced its Burrst Fizz brand to tap the potential in this segment. Burrst Fizz is available in two flavours - apple and lemon. (ET)

Wockhardt's sale of its nutrition business to Danone will fetch the drug maker much-needed cash, allowing it to pay up foreign currency convertible bondholders and reduce debt. (ET)

Power Grid Corporation of India is expected to raise Rs 25bn by issuing corporate bonds before the end of this month. The company would issue bonds in tenors ranging between four and 15 years, with a coupon rate of 9.50 per cent, said bond dealers. (BS)



BEML announced its entry into the Thailand and neighbouring market with a Rs1.2bn contract. It would distribute its products through Paragon Company Ltd in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. (BL)

Kotak Mahindra Bank has entered into a business co-operation arrangement with Malaysia based CIMB Group for cross-border trade in select countries in the India-Asean corridor. (BL)

NMDC is set to make the offer for buying stake in Greystone Mineracao do Brasil Limitada, which has mining licence area in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

Reliance Power Transmission's arm, North Karanpura Transmission Company, has served notices to the electricity distribution utilities of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa.(BL)

Indian Overseas Bank said it will be raising up to Rs35bn in core tier-I capital over the next three years to fund expansion. (ET)

Lanco Infratech said it will invest over Rs130bn in setting up a 2,000-MW power plant and developing a coal block, which it has won through bidding from Maha Tamil Collieries, at Raigarh in Chhattishgarh. (ET)

Reliance Industries has shutdown production facilities at an oil field in its showpiece KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast for maintenance without any impact on production till now. (ET)

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Wednesday permitted the distribution business of Reliance Infrastructure to recover as much as Rs23bn from its customers. (BS)

In an effort to become a large global player in the airport sector, the GMR group is considering placing bids for operating the two leading airports in Spain: Madrid Barajas and Barcelona’s El Prat. (BS)

Areva T&D India’s transmission business (part of Alstom grid) flagged off the world's largest 1200 kV capacitive voltage transformer (CVT) from its Hosur facility. The company, which invested Rs9.5bn in its operations in the country since 2007, said it would invest another Rs0.5-0.6bn, once the market develops for 1200 KV in the country. (BS)

General Motors India, the passenger car maker about to enter the utility vehicle segment, has roped in Ashutosh Khosla as its director, sales and marketing, commerical vehicles. (ET)

Audi said it will start operations for its used car business in India by the end of this year, expecting it to account for up to 20 % of its new car sales in future. (ET)
Economy Snippets

Anticipating a demand for a ban on iron ore exports, the commerce department has said it will oppose any such suggestion that could sharply drive down domestic prices and pare export earnings. (ET)

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) may consider a 10-year term for independent directors under the new Companies Bill, instead of a six-year limit proposed by it to a Parliamentary panel that reviewed an earlier version of the Bill. (BS)

Restricting the supply of subsidised cooking fuel may no longer be a politically difficult task, with a Parliamentary panel asking the government to do away with the sale of subsidised domestic LPG to people with more than Rs0.6mn annual income. (BS)

The Union Ministry of Information Technology is planning to introduce a new incentive scheme for units registered under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) project. The new scheme is aimed to compensate the withdrawal of income tax benefits available to such units till March 2011. (BL)