Daily News Roundup - Apr 23 2012

Vedanta Aluminium's Lanjigarh project in Odisha may become another Kudankulam, as environment activists belonging to foreign non-Government organisations (NGO) have suddenly surfaced to show their concern.(BL) High costs, uncertain yield, less availability of wasteland are some of the reasons that have compelled Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to review its biofuel business strategy.(BL) JSPL will invest over Rs.100bn in 2012-13 to part-fund its capex plan that aims to ramp up its steel making capacity to 18 million tonnes in five years.(BL) Construction of three railway lines for coal evacuation in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa will be a top priority for Coal India Ltd.(BL) YES Bank is currently focusing on bringing more retail customers on board to boost its CASA ratio. (BL) Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has slashed deposit rates by 50-100 basis points on certain maturities for deposits of Rs1.5mn and above. (BL) Mukesh Ambani-owned Infotel Broadband Services plans to set up over 1,00,000 towers for its 4G operations in three years, moving away from its ‘asset-light’ model and possibly disappointing telecom tower companies, including Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infratel, which were hoping the RIL group company would use their passive infrastructure for its services.(ET) Jawed Habib, who runs a chain of more than 300 salons across India, plans to take his venture global in a strategic partnership with Procter & Gamble.(ET) Max India has decided to divest its 25-year-old polypropylene business in a two-stage transaction for an enterprise value of about Rs.8bn a move that will help it exit its non-core business.(ET) Reliance Industries US$3.5bn investment in shale gas businesses in the US has begun to bear fruit. The company in its quarterly presentation to analysts said shale gas was profitable despite low gas prices.(BS) Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC), a navratna public sector unit, has evinced interest in setting up a 2,000-Mw coal-fired power unit in Odisha through a joint venture (JV) with a state government owned PSU.(BS) Cairn India's Rajasthan block was now estimated to hold a record 7.3 bn barrels of oil reserves that could produce 15 mn tonnes of oil, the highest by any field in India, the company said.(BS) Economy Snippets The finance ministry is set to halve the tax burden to keep alive the interest of private equity (PE) players, who constitute the biggest foreign direct investor group in India.(ET) The finance ministry has asked the Reserve Bank to open a US$10-bn window for individual foreign investors in corporate debt, hoping high yields on Indian paper will attract greater flows and prevent large government borrowing from pushing up interest rates.(ET) Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu feels India will see "some important" reforms in the next six months, including on subsidies and maybe partial diesel decontrol and FDI (foreign direct investment) in retail.(BS) A protest against the government’s alleged attempt to govern the internet is gathering steam. Public interest litigation in Kerala, a signature campaign and mass protests in Karnataka besides the political Left throwing its weight behind the demand to withdraw the recently amended laws, are all indications to that effect. (ET)