Daily News Roundup - Sep 23 2011

Reliance Industries is undertaking a comprehensive review of its oil and gas strategy to drill abroad instead of bidding for new blocks in view of its ordeals with regulators and auditors. (ET)

Coal India may miss its output target for 2011-12 due to heavy rainfall and law & order problems affecting production. (ET)

About a dozen trade unions demonstrated at various places across the country to express solidarity with agitating Maruti Suzuki workers at Manesar plant. (ET)



Suzlon Energy is likely to complete the buyout of the balance 4.8% shares in Germanys REpower Systems for Rs63mn to make it a 100%-owned subsidiary. (ET)

NMDC will buy 50% stake in Australia’s Legacy Iron Ore for Rs920mn that will give it access to key mineral resources. (ET)

State Bank of India has increased the size of its medium term note programme from US$5bn to US$10bn. (ET)

Oil India plans to spend up to Rs40bn in buying oil and gas assets abroad to boost India's energy security. (ET)

Indian Oil Corporation plans to raise its borrowing limit by Rs300bn to Rs1,100bn due to high under-recovery on sales of diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG. (BS)

ITC increased the price of its mid-sized brands Wills Navy Cut as VAT on cigarettes in Andhra Pradesh increased from 14.5% to 20%. (BS)

Bajaj Auto Ltd rolled out its new Boxer 150 cc variant in Rajkot by announcing its intention of achieving a sale of 4000 bikes every month. (BS)

Tata Steel signed a memorandum of settlement with its recognized Tata Workers’ Union to shell out Rs1.71bn in bonus. (FE)

IVRCL has bagged new orders worth Rs22.29bn, including a highway upgrade contract in Arunachal Pradesh from the road transport ministry. (FE)

Tata Power is preparing contingency plans to minimise loss from running its Mundra UMPP as the cost of imported coal from Indonesia has risen sharply and unexpectedly. (ET)

A dip in the coal production by Coal India is all set to bring down the capacity utilisation of power projects across the country, a power ministry official said. (BS)
Economy Snippets

Food inflation fell to 8.84% from 9.47%, but provided no relief as prices of key commodities continued to rule high. (ET)

Finance Minister expressed confidence that India would be able to achieve 8% growth this year. (FE)

India cuts US debt exposure by US$4.2bn. (FE)

Gujarat will have 6,246 Mw of surplus power at the end of 11th plan because of private players’ investment in the state’s power generation sector. (FE)

Promoters of mid-size and smallscale steel units in Orissa have decided to surrender their units to chief minister to protest the government’s apathy in addressing surging production costs and unavailability of iron ore. (ET)