Daily News Roundup - Jan 4 2012

Kingfisher told to clear December service tax dues by Jan 5/6. (BL)

Reliance Industries Limited has divested its undisclosed stake in Eenadu Group to TV18 Broadcast Limited. (BL)

Indraprastha Gas Ltd is scouting for committed supply of natural gas and has approached BG, Shell, GAIL (India), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation for long-term commitments. (BL)

HCC has received a letter of acceptance for a Rs2.89bn contract to construct a bulk water transmission system for Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd. (BL)



Adani eyes power plants in Nigeria, Kosovo, S Africa. (FE)

A regulatory panel has approved Reliance’s plan to develop four satellite fields at an estimated cost of US$1.5bn. (FE)

The SC stayed the Punjab and Haryana HC’s judgment that directed the DLF to demolish structures at its upcoming Cyber City project in Gurgaon township and return around 20 acre of prime estate to villagers. (FE)

The CCI has noted that SAIL has not misused its position and has dismissed the complaint pertaining to the exclusive agreement between Indian Railways and SAIL. (FE)

The Union home ministry has rejected Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone’s plans to develop a port in Kerala and a facility to handle fertilisers in Visakhapatnam on security grounds. (ET)

Wockhardt Pharma will offer SBI the same deal it offered to its FCCB holders as part of a settlement. (ET)

Bajaj Auto unveiled its four-wheeler intra-city passenger vehicle RE 60, fitted with a 200 cc petrol engine, targetted at over 5 million three-wheeler users. (ET)

IOC may set up its next refinery, a 15 mtpa unit, on the western coast in Gujarat at an investment of Rs300bn. (BS)

Adani Power plans to invest Rs30bn in two years to add 160 Mw solar power to its exisisting capacity. (BS)
Economy Snippets

The Finance Ministry is keen to usher in savings bank account number portability and has begun discussions on removing regulatory restrictions. (BL)

The SEBI made it easy for the government to quickly tap major institutional investors to sell up to 10% of its stake in listed public sector companies. (FE)

Incremental gold imports alone will add close to 1% of GDP to the current account deficit (CAD) for 2011-12, taking the deficit close to 3.5% of GDP. (FE)

The RBI is likely to begin easing monetary policy to address concerns about economic growth, governor Duvvuri Subbarao said. (FE)

Service tax on freight to be kept in abeyance till March 31. (FE)

DoT plans to impose penalties totalling Rs15.94bn on six mobile phone companies for allegedly understating revenues and paying lower revenue share during 2006-07 and 2007-08. (ET)

The RBI has rejected several banks’ proposals to launch wholly-owned subsidiaries, as the regulator did not find any merit in floating such arms. (BS)