Daily News Roundup - Dec 30 2011

SAIL and Japan’s Kobe Steel will invest Rs15bn in an equal JV plant in West Bengal to make 5 lakh tonnes of iron ore nuggets annually. (ET)

SBI, which had received a commitment from the government for capital infusion of Rs60bn in the current financial year, may opt for another round of fund-raising through a QIP in the next financial year. (BS)

NTPC has signed a power purchase agreement with MP Tradeco in Bhopal for supply of power from 50 MW solar PV power plant to be set up at Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh. (BL)



JSPL replaces Sara International Limited in SPV to develop an all-weather private port at Gopalpur in Orissa’s Ganjam district. (BS)

PFC, NTPC and REC are likely to launch medium- to long-term infrastructure bonds in the first week of January to raise Rs30-50bn each. (ET)

ONGC is to set up a slew of projects in the nuclear, fertilizers, solar, wind power and lighting sectors. (ET)

Union Bank of India has reduced its base rate by 10 basis points to 10.65 per cent from 10.75 per cent, with immediate effect. (BL)

Bank of India and Bank of Baroda hiked the interest rates on Non Resident (External) Term Deposits for various tenors. (BL)

Public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank has a new Executive Director in Mr A. D. M. Chavali. (BL)

Chennai Port Trust has rejected a bid by Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone for its Rs37bn mega container terminal project in this metropolis. (BS)

Ashok Leyland has won a brief skirmish with Scottish bus maker Alexander Dennis for control of British company Optare. (BS)

Godrej Properties has sold 49% shareholding in its subsidiary, Godrej Premium Builders. (ET)

Dr Reddy's Laboratories has launched its pain and inflammation relief cream 'Supamove' in the Indian market. (ET)

Three Chinese companies are part of consortiums that have bagged Rs18bn worth of five contracts awarded by Hindustan Copper to raise production four-fold to 12 million tonnes over the next five years. (ET)

Aditya Birla Group plans to invest UD$500mn to build a viscose staple fibre plant in Turkey, betting on its increased use in textiles as global production of cotton slows down. (ET)

Bannari Amman Sugars is setting up a greenfield unit to manufacture white crystal sugar with a capacity of 3,750 TCD with 25 Mw cogeneration plant using bagasse ô biomass in Mysore district at an investment of Rs3.75bn. (BS)
Economy Snippets

Food inflation fell to a five-and-a-half-year low of 0.42% for the week ended December 17. (BS)

The RBI bought back bonds worth Rs81bn of the Rs120bn it was supposed to buy back through the open market operation. (ET)

State-run oil companies plan to raise petrol prices by about Rs2.25 a litre from Sunday unless the government asks them to defer the move in view of assembly elections. (ET)

The finance ministry has proposed to infuse Rs150-160bn in about 15 public sector banks by March 31, 2012. (BS)

NHAI has mopped up approximately Rs240bn at the end of the second day through its tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds. (ET)

The telecom sector witnessed over 17% increase in investment in 2010-11 over the previous financial year, says annual report of telecom regulator Trai. (ET)

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project will get assistance worth US$4.5bn from Japan. (ET)

The government is looking at borrowing around Rs400bn more to make up for the shortfall in revenue receipts and poor disinvestment realization in the current fiscal. (ET)

The central government’s plans to introduce a new rule under the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act to compensate clinical trial victims has been challenged before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. (BS)

The West Bengal government has set up a high-level committee to assess safety measures in the use of radioactive material in health and research facilities. (BS)