Daily News Roundup - Nov 3 2011

Arvind has exited a five-year-old Indian joint venture with US-based VF Corporation, selling its 40% stake to the owner of brands such as Wrangler and Lee for Rs2.57bn. (ET)

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has appointed ex-Audi UK boss Jeremy Hicks as the managing director of its operations in the UK. (ET)

The AV Birla Group may bid as much as US$5bn for an Australian coal miner, which could pit it against JSW Steel. (ET)



Cronimet Alloys India Ltd has entered into a memorandum of understanding with JSL Stainless Ltd for sale of at least 2,000 tonnes high carbon ferro chrome every month to the latter. (BL)

Kingfisher Airlines has sought assistance from its banks to substitute high-cost rupee borrowings with lower-cost foreign currency debt. (BL)

To source natural gas for meeting domestic demand, GAIL (India) Ltd opened a LNG trading desk in Singapore. (BL)

The Finance Ministry has allowed Coal India Ltd acquire interest in unlisted coal miners in abroad, however, it stopped short of granting a formal go-ahead for acquisition of assets that does not ensure the stipulated 12% IRR. (BL)

Jet Airways plans to connect European cities through its partnership with Thalys rail network. (BS)

NCC Urban Infrastructure Limited, a subsidiary of NCC Limited, is lining up over 10 residential and commercial projects, together with a built-up area of 2.5 mn sft, in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi. (BS)

Jammu and Kashmir Bank is allowed to provide subsidized loans to farmers under the interest subvention scheme of the Centre as it is a public sector bank. (ET)

The board of directors of SKS Microfinance has approved the issue of equity shares through QIP up to Rs9bn. (BL)

SAIL and Posco may each take an equal stake in their proposed joint venture at Bokaro. The investment in the project is estimated at around Rs170bn. (BL)
Economy Snippets

The oil ministry is seeking a hefty increase in taxes on diesel-fired generators and vehicles and higher pump price for the fuel. (ET)

The Reserve Bank of India has simplified guidelines on derivatives and spelt out the difference between generic derivatives and structured derivative products. (ET)

The government’s proposed scheme to attract new investments into the country’s urea production capacity is likely to give investors a flexible pricing regime to insulate them from the highly volatile prices of naphtha and natural gas used as feedstock. (FE)

With the softening trend in global prices of sweetener,
the co-operative sugar millers demanded the government should immediately allow exports of one mn tonnes to improve their cash flows for making payments to sugarcane farmers. (ET)

A two-phase technology plan for direct cash subsidy transfer under the Public Distribution System has been proposed by the Task Force on IT Strategy for Public Distribution System. (BL)