Daily News Roundup - Feb 6 2012

NMDC is set to begin due diligence process to acquire four more overseas mines, one each in Russia, Brazil, Mozambique and Australia. (ET)

Biocon said it expects lower upfront payment from its overseas partner when it outlicenses its oral insulin medicine, with large part of the payment being milestone-linked. (ET)

GVK Power plans to acquire two under-construction thermal power plants in Andhra Pradesh as the private developers executing these projects are facing a resource crunch and have offered to quit. (ET)



The new wage pact signed by Coal India Ltd has seen an 88% increase in minimum basic of its employees to Rs15,712 per month as against Rs8,360 during the previous deal. (BS)

NTPC is expected to follow the rehabilitation package offered by West Bengal Power Development Corporation for land acquisition for the proposed 1,600MW Katwa thermal power project in the state. (BS)

Himadri Chemicals and Industries has lined up investment plans worth Rs12bn in the state in the next four years. (BS)

Infosys is swapping the roles of its two senior most executives, Ashk Vemuri and BG Srinivas, as it trains its next set of leaders to take on a wider set of responsibilities. (ET)

Debt-laden air carrier Kingfisher Airlines has put on hold plans to enter the global airline alliance of OneWorld, underscoring its deep financial problems. (ET)

The CBDT has attached the properties of beleaguered Mahindra Satyam to protect revenues that was due to it from the company. (ET)

Drug applications from all of Ranbaxy Labs’ manufacturing facilities must now go through an arduous auditing journey before the US regulator even begins to consider it for a launch there. (FE)

Piramal Healthcare bought an additional 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for Rs30.1bn, taking its holding in the company to 11%. (BS)

Amid costly Indonesian coal raising a question over the viability of many power projects, Tata Power has said the flagship 4,000-MW Mundra UMPP could become a "non-performing asset" if no decision is taken on increasing rates for electricity from the plant. (BS)

Economy Snippets
The Reserve Bank of India has partially lifted the curbs on banks foreign exchange transactions imposed after the rupee came under attack from currency speculators in December. (ET)

Confederation of Indian Industry suggested that the government liberalize the FDI policy further by allowing foreign airlines to invest up to 49% in cash-starved domestic carriers. (ET)

The finance ministry is resisting a Planning Commission proposal for a 10% increase in the budgetary support for the first year of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, citing limited resources with the government. (ET)

The Consumer Affairs Ministry is not in favour of levy of any transaction tax on commodity derivatives. (BL)