Daily News Roundup - Aug 10 2012

In a fresh blow to the IT major, a former employee of Infosys has filed a suit against the company in a California court over alleged misuse of B1 visas. (ET) The Supreme Court has issued notice to Indraprastha Gas on the plea of PNGRB over the fixation of the maximum retail price, network tariff and compression charges for the gas by the regulator. (ET) Punj Lloyd said it has bagged a Rs3.3bn order from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for process facilities & utilities at an upcoming crude oil storage cavern in Mangalore. (ET) Akzo Nobel India Ltd is setting up a new plant at Gwalior for decorative paints. The 60mn litres a year plant will cost Rs1.5bn. The company has also proposed to house a Rs500mn powder coatings manufacturing unit within the plant complex. (BL) Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd has decided to set up a 12mn metre-a-year denim fabric unit in Ethiopia at a cost US$30mn. (BL) The Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed combination of global FMCG major, Nestle SA, with pharmaceutical major, Pfizer. (BL) Fitch Ratings has revised Crompton Greaves Ltd’s outlook to negative from stable. Its national long-term rating has been affirmed at ‘Fitch AA+(ind)’. (BL) Apollo Tyres Ltd has proposed to invest Rs3bn in Kalamassery unit to make it an export-oriented unit to manufacture industrial tyres. (BS) Coal India board is likely to meet early next week to approve the model fuel supply agreements for supply of coal to power firms with significant changes, including the penalty clause. (BL) Andhra Bank expects loans aggregating about Rs3bn to come up for restructuring in the current quarter. In the April-June quarter, 29 loan accounts of the public sector bank required restructuring. The amount involved aggregated Rs7.51bn. (BL) Anil Ambani has said his group’s financial services arm Reliance Capital plans to globalize its operations in the next 3-5 years and expand its customer base 2.5 times to 50mn in this period. (BS) Infosys has bagged Rs7bn deal from India Post for implementing and managing its banking and insurance products. (BL) Economy Snippets Two-wheeler sales took a hit in July on rising fuel prices, high interest rates and a negative customer sentiment because of delayed monsoon. Overall vehicle sales rose 7.53% to 1.44mn units in July, slower than the 9% recorded in June. (BL) Industrial production contracted 1.8% in June, official data showed. The contraction was in sharp contrast with the whopping 9.5% expansion in the same month last year. (BS) Amid a slowdown in economic activities, the Government said it will reassess the fiscal deficit target of 5.1% of GDP for the current fiscal after a mid-year review of the economy. (BL) The revised Land Acquisition Bill incorporating recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee is proposed to be introduced in Lok Sabha for its consideration, the Rural Development Ministry said. (BL)