Daily News Roundup - Sep 13 2011

Maruti Suzuki's output of its best-selling Swift car reached 500 units, matching the normal daily production at its Manesar plant, even as striking workers sought the intervention of the district administration to resolve the 14-day standoff. (ET)

State Bank India said its rights issue proposal is on course and it could happen in another 2-3 months. (ET)

Neyveli Lignite Corporation said it plans to set up a 4,000-MW thermal power project in Tamil Nadu with an investment of around Rs200bn. (ET)



Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Ltd will be partnering with Mazagon Dock Ltd to build warships for the Indian Navy. (ET)

The Ministry of Defence has approved disinvestment of 10 % government holding in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (BL)

Tata Chemicals along with its joint venture partners Singapore-based Olam International and the Government of Gabon have signed the pre-construction services agreement with Technip S.A. for the gas-based urea fertiliser plant in Gabon, Africa. (BL)

Wockhardt has significantly reduced the number of people working at its Negma operations in France, and the plant has been divested. (BL)

National Collateral Management Services and L&T Finance has entered into a strategic partnership to assist industries, traders and farmers with working capital requirements at all stages of the supply chain. (BL)

Future Group plans to divest stakes in non-core businesses in the next six to 12 months. (BS)

Godrej Properties Ltd announced that it has tied-up with Global Indian International School (GIIS) for setting up a world class education facility at its township project Godrej Garden City (GGC) in Ahmedabad. (BS)

ICICI Bank plans to raise funds through foreign currency bonds in the coming quarters to meet the funding needs of Indian companies. (BS)

Vodafone, which is currently disputing a US$2bn tax demand on its 2007 acquisition of Hutch-Essar, has paid Rs39bn as tax in India on another transaction with the Essar. (ET)

Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has announced its intent to dissolve its almost two-year-old partnership and cross-shareholding agreement with Volkswagen. (BL)
Economy Snippets

The Finance Ministry has liberalised FII (foreign institutional investors) investment in long-term infrastructure sector bonds issued by corporates. (BL)

Industrial growth plunged to a low of 3.3 % in July. (BL)

A Reserve Bank of India-appointed panel has recommended that the existing financially healthy and well managed co-operative credit societies should get priority to start new urban cooperative banks (UCBs). (BS)

A fluctuation in prices has resulted in a dispute between tea growers and processing units. The All Assam Small Tea Growers' Association(AASTGA) has staged a protest outside the Tea Board office in Guwahati demanding the implementation of the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO) 2003.