Daily News Roundup - March 30 2012

Independent directors oppose Coal India's fuel supply pacts. (BL) Essar Oil Ltd has completed the Rs83bn capacity expansion of its Vadinar refinery. (BL) Engineers India Ltd has signed an MoU with Nalco Water India Ltd, a subsidiary of Nalco. (BL) Ashok Leyland has said that it will form a separate subsidiary as it explores expansion into the aerospace business with global partners. (BL) Tata Motors has raised prices of its commercial vehicles (CV) by upto Rs0.06mn effective March 17. (BL) Nakoda Ltd plans to double its polymerisation capacity to 280,000 tonnes a year with an investment of Rs19.35bn over 3 years. (BL) Muthoot Estate Investments, in which the promoters of gold loan company Muthoot Fincorp are partners, will not be allowed to collect public deposits, said the RBI. (BL) The draft report of the CAG on coal allocation has alleged undue benefits of Rs158.49bn to Reliance Power Ltd. (BS) Tata Motors said it may invest about Rs6bn to develop Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles and set up a manufacturing plant for rolling them out for the Indian Army. (BS) Piramal Healthcare is planning to invest US$1bn in the US in a couple of years, mainly to buy companies with interests in aerospace, bio-pharmaceuticals, defence and information management sectors. (FE) Valiant Mauritius Partners FDI is picking up close to 22.75% stake in Shriram Housing Finance, a 100% subsidiary of Shriram City Union Finance. (FE) Reliance Power Ltd’s Rosa plant to be fully operational in April. (FE) Vedanta Aluminium has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Orissa High Court’s order that asked it to deposit sales tax dues to the tune of Rs550mn. (FE) Coal India’s board again refused to abide by the instructions of the Prime Minister’s Office to commit fuel supply to power stations for 20 years by March 31, and tossed the ball in the coal ministry’s court saying it needs advice. (ET) Bharti Airtel’s tower arm Bharti Infratel has sued STel for not paying outstanding rent on 1,200 tenancies it had leased from the company. (ET) Tata Communications and Vodafone have been given time till April 19 to finalise their bids for acquiring British telecom group Cable & Wireless Worldwide. (ET) Economy Snippets Investments to the tune of Rs1760bn are expected in 2012-13 from 17 top Central Public Sector Enterprises in their domestic business, as well as overseas assets. (BL) Eight key infrastructure industries posted a seven-month high growth of 6.8% in February, largely driven by robust performance in cement, electricity and coal. The power ministry is likely to move a fresh Cabinet note next month for the imposition of 21% duty on the import of power equipment. (BS) The finance ministry has assured the RBI that the country can borrow up to Rs4900bn from the market without any disruption. (FE)