Daily News Roundup - June 22 2012

Tatas-owned Land Rover said it has tied up with the UK-based racing vehicle maker Bowler to supply technologies and jointly brand the latter’s products. (BL) Order backlog is expected to ease with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI)’s third plant in Karnataka set to commence operations next year. (BL) The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has levied a penalty of over Rs63bn on 11 cement companies for price cartelisation. (BL) NHPC is in early stage of talks with private players to form joint ventures for developing hydel power plants as a move to fast-track several of its projects facing delays. (BL) Reliance Industries’ flagging KG-D6 gas block holds 80 % less reserves than previously estimated, the firm’s junior partner Niko Resources of Canada said. (BL) YES Bank plans to raise quasi-capital (tier-II) of Rs7.5bn from the domestic market between now and December-end, it’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Rana Kapoor, said. (BL) DCNS is likely to pick up a little less than 10% equity stake in Nikhil Gandhi-promoted Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering for about Rs.8bn according to Pipavav Defence officials. (ET) Reliance Industries and its partners BP and Niko Resources plan to invest US$4 bn to develop satellite fields in the D6 block, where the operator is also keen to explore for more hydrocarbons that may lie beneath the fields already under production, company officials and government sources said.(ET) Aegis, Essar Group’s information technology and business process outsourcing arm, is targeting organic growth of 26 % and revenue of US$1.25 bn in 2012-13. (BS) Mastek’s US subsidiary MajescoMastek said it had signed a multi-year licence, implementation and maintenance engagement for its STG Billing solution with a Fortune-100 insurance and financial services company. The initial value of the contract is US$30 mn. (BS) Reliance Industries has mandated investment bank NM Rothschild to approach strategic partners for a possible joint venture or even a complete sale of its ailing textiles business, including Vimal, once valued at a little over Rs.3bn. (BS) A year after the first labour strife at Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL)’s Manesar facility, the car maker is set to face prosecution proceedings by the Haryana government’s labour department for not adhering to the agreement signed with workers at the unit. (BS) The government is likely to reject an offer by the Anil Agarwal-led metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources to buy the residual stakes in group firms Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) and Bharat Aluminium Co Ltd (Balco) for about Rs.170bn. (BS) Economy Snippets India’s export growth was below the world average in January-March, but imports rose faster than the increase seen globally.(BL) The panel of ministers on spectrum, headed by Pranab Mukherjee, deferred its meeting to decide on the spectrum reserve price for airwave auction, raising concerns the government may not be able to meet the Supreme Court’s August 31 deadline to complete the sale process, reports Our Bureau from New Delhi.(ET) Unfazed by sluggish economic growth and persistent global slowdown, the Planning Commission will stick to the 9% growth target for 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17), an official said.(ET) In the first signs of the Government trying to shake off its recent image of being afflicted with ‘policy paralysis’, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, said he is confident "the coming weeks will see the emergence of political consensus on liberalising foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail."(BL)