Daily News Roundup - May 14 2012

NTPC may not be able to add at least 12,500 MW of generation capacity, if the coal supply issues are not resolved in the next couple of months. (BL) Air India was forced to cancel nearly 30 international flights on Friday, after 400 pilots refused to return to work and the Supreme Court declined to intervene saying that it is an internal matter. (ET) Jaguar Land Rover will invest an additional GBP1bn in sourcing parts from the UK-based suppliers for its latest sports utility vehicle Range Rover Evoque over the next four years. (BS) SAIL plans to help Mongolia develop its iron ore and coal deposits. (BL) Welspun Group, the lone bidder for operating Vizhinjam Container Transshipment Terminal in Kerala, has agreed to lower its demand for a grant it had earlier sought from the state government to operate the terminal. (ET) Lupin Ltd is expected to soon launch its generic version of the anti-HIV drug, Combivir, in the United States. (BS) UK based energy major British Gas and representatives of the PSU consortium — Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Oil India — bidding for its 65% stake in Gujarat Gas are planning to meet on May 18 to discuss the modalities of the deal. (ET) Despite the Delhi government building a 1,500-Mw power plant at Bawana at a cost of ~Rs45bn, Reliance Industries Ltd has not yet supplied gas to the plant even after directions from the oil ministry. (BS) HCL America Inc, a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary of HCL Technologies Ltd, and Consumers Energy, a US-based electric and natural gas company, have announced their collaboration on a new technology centre in Michigan. (BL) HCL Infosystems has said it will not make any new investment in its computing hardware business, as it wants to focus on growth engines such as services, learning and multi-brand distribution. (BS) ONGC may be gearing up to take a call on the farm-in opportunities in its four coal bed methane blocks in West Bengal and Jharkhand. (BL) DLF is set to start a fire brigade service beginning with Gurgaon and Chennai, making it probably the first private company into such activities. (BS) Economy Snippets Industrial production contracted 3.5% in March, dragging the cumulative factory output growth last financial year closer to the level of the financial crisis period of 2008-09. (BS) The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has asked life insurers to stop selling highest net asset value (NAV)-guaranteed products. (BS) Outward FDI by Indian companies fell by almost 30% to USD$30.86bn in 2011-12 vis-à-vis the previous year. (BL) Income Tax department has initiated a post-2008 probe into the finances, investments and returns of all those 122 2G spectrum licence benefactors whose authorisations were scrapped by the Supreme Court recently.(BL)