Daily News Roundup - Feb 7 2012

Uninor, a joint venture between Norway’s Telenor and Unitech, said it will bid for airwaves in an upcoming auction to continue operations, but did not rule out exiting India. (ET)

RBI has banned Manappuram Finance and an unlisted group company from taking public deposits as it is a violation of rules governing its license to function as a lender. (ET)

Larsen & Toubro has surrendered an IT/ITeS special SEZ proposed at Coimbatore, citing economic slowdown as the reason. (ET)



TCS said it has signed a multi-year, multi-million euro contract with European car rental company Europcar for deployment of IT services in France. (ET)

Stymied by delays in gas allocation to fuel its sugar refinery and hit by mounting losses, Silkroad Sugar, a joint venture between E.I.D.-Parry and Cargill Asia Pacific, is looking at relocating the plant outside India. (BL)

A subsidiary of GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd, and construction major L&T have signed a pact for execution of Rs19.4bn order for a road project in Madhya Pradesh. (BL)

Chettinad Cement will commission a 2.5 mtpa cement plant in North Karnataka in the current year and has finalized plans to expand into Andhra Pradesh. (BL)

Burdened by the highest fuel subsidy this year, the government has increased subsidy contribution of upstream oil companies, ONGC, Oil India Ltd and GAIL India to 38% for the nine months ended December 31, 2011, at Rs368.94bn. (BS)

Piramal Healthcare will have the "customary rights" that come with holding 11% equity in Vodafone India, including a board seat. (BL)

Dena Bank has announced a 5% dilution in favour of LIC through referential shares allotment. LIC may have to invest close to Rs1.25bn for the stake. (ET)

SKS Microfinance has sold Rs2.43bn off its loan book to a bank, enabling it to deploy the proceeds for fresh loans to the poor. (ET)

Power Finance aims to raise Rs400bn in 2012-13 and is scouting for a partner for its subsidiary PFC Consultings global foray. (ET)

Economy Snippets
Rating agency Standard & Poor's has cautioned that India's long-term credit rating of BBB-/ Stable/A-3 was under threat as the balance for sovereign credit rating may slightly be shifting towards the negative. (BL)

The Finance Ministry may provide Rs600-620bn for fertilizer subsidies in Budget 2012-13. (BL)

The Reserve Bank said the repurchase or repo of government securities that have been contracted for sale will be allowed for transaction as a measure to improve liquidity in the G-Sec market. (ET)

The upcoming budget is likely to give state governments discretionary powers over about 50% of funds under central government schemes, a move that will allow better utilization of resources. (ET)

The government may discontinue supply of pulses at subsidized rates through the public distribution system from the next financial year. (ET)