Daily News Roundup - Oct 4 2012

Kingfisher Airlines is staring at a prolonged shutdown, as the cash-strapped airline told its employees that it cannot clear immediately the salary backlog of more than half-a-year. (ET) In a major relief to Bharti Airtel, the Delhi High Court granted a stay on a government order seeking mobile phone companies to stop offering 3G services via roaming agreements outside their licensed zones. (ET) State-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, along with its affiliates, signed definitive agreements to buy a 65.12% stake in Gujarat Gas Company from London-based BG Group. (ET) Maruti Suzuki India said it has hiked the prices of all its all models by up to Rs5,250 with immediate effect to offset adverse impact of foreign exchange fluctuation and rising input costs. (ET) Cipla’s malaria drug Mefliam Plus has made it to the pre-qualification list of World Health Organisation, making it one of the first WHO approved drug for the treatment of malaria in South Asia. (ET) Reliance Industries Ltd and Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, SA have signed a 15-year heavy crude oil supply deal. The company also inked a MoU with Petroleos to further develop Venezuelan heavy oil fields. (BL) The Oil India Ltd - Indian Oil Corporation partnership is expected to acquire participating interest in Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas's Niobrara shale gas asset in Colorado. (BL) Asergis Telecom Services Pvt Ltd., a fully-owned subsidiary of UK-based Asergis Global Services Ltd, has filed a petition in TDSAT for restraining Bharti Airtel, from allegedly blocking its subscribers to access Asergis’ toll-free numbers. (BL) Jain Irrigation received shareholders approval to raise over Rs11bn to refinance debt and reduce interest outgo. The company will mop up US$55mn through Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds, US$73mn via equity investment and US$75mn from external commercial borrowings. (BL) Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd might lose the 180-day opportunity to exclusively sell its generic version of Novartis AG’s hypertension drug Diovan if a US district court rules in favour of Mylan, which has sued the USFDA for refusing it an approval for the generic drug. (BS) Indian Oil Corporation Ltd will commission its Paradip refinery in the third quarter of 2013-14, asserted its project head after a review meeting with the state government. (BS) Mahindra & Mahindra announced it would be launching the Rexton, its first product under Ssangyong stable in India, on October 17. (BS) Economy Snippets The finance ministry may lift curbs on central public sector undertakings to invest in mutual funds floated by privately-held asset management companies. (ET) A high-powered ministerial panel, tasked with finalizing rules for the upcoming mobile spectrum sale, endorsed the plan to allow foreign telcos to bid on their own without a partner. (ET) The Deepak Parekh committee on infrastructure finance has suggested increasing the FDI limit in the telecom sector to 100%. The committee submitted its interim report to the Prime Minister. (BL) Merger and acquisition activities in India have seen a sharp fall in 2012. The value of M&A deals involving India reached US$26.4bn during the first nine months of the current year, a 24% decline compared to the year-ago period, data from Thomson Reuters’ India show. (BS)