Daily News Roundup - Sep 14 2011

Maruti Suzuki India said it has dismissed five more workers at its Manesar plant on disciplinary grounds while recruiting 100 new people to replace the existing workers, who have refused to sign the good conduct bond. (ET)

Jaguar Land Rover expects to decide on a local partner for production in China by the end of this year. (ET)

United Breweries is betting big on beer brand Heineken to take on Danish brewer Carlsberg, which has a 70% share in the super-premium beer segment in India. (ET)



Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary BSES Yamuna Power Ltdon Tuesday said it has tied-up with Larsen & Toubro to provide electricity leakage detecting devices at discounted price to consumers. (ET)

In a bid to tap India's fast-growing water distribution segment, France's Saint Gobain, is in talks to acquire the pipes division of Electrotherm (India). (ET)

Ranbaxy Laboratories has started discussions with Ind Swift to source raw material to make low-cost version of the world's largest selling drug, Lipitor which it to roll out in the US by November end. (ET)

The bottomline of State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank could be buoyed by Rs2.6bn and Rs3.46bn, respectively, in the September quarter as the Custodian dealing with the 1992 securities scam has secured the Special Court's order to release the money to them. (BL)

Biocon has commenced work on its Malaysian biopharma manufacturing facility, which is expected to be operational by 2014. (BL)

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, which runs a 0.5-million-tonne, mini refinery near Nagapattinam, has entered into an agreement with Karaikkal Port Pvt Ltd for bringing in bigger crude carriers. (BL)

Bank of Baroda has hiked deposit rates in select maturities by 25-50 basis points with immediate effect. (BL)

Tata Steel has announced completion of its £2mn investment at its Dudley plant in the West Midlands in the UK for upgrading its hot-rolled strip processing capabilities. (BL)

Marg Ltd announced its foray into railway wagon fabrication business. (BS)

Future Group-owned Indus League Clothing is in talks to launch English football club Manchester United's fashion products in the country. (ET)
Economy Snippets

The National Housing Bank (NHB) has slapped a set of stringent rules which may put housing finance companies (HFCs) under stress.
It has raised the provisioning requirement for doubtful assets up to 100% while it has directed HFCs, for the first time, to set aside 0.4% of the total outstanding "standard" loans as a buffer. (ET)

The government plans to strictly enforce its plan to cut the US$9bn subsidy on kerosene and cooking gas, and will penalise states that oppose reform, government officials said. (ET)

The Government is likely to review the annual external commercial borrowings (ECB) limit of US$30bn this month end. (BL)

The much-awaited multi-brand retail policy allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector has been put on the back burner. Officials close to the developments say the government is likely to take a call on the matter only in the next financial year. (BS)