Daily News Roundup - Dec 12 2012

Jaguar Land Rover, exploring an opportunity to start production in Saudi Arabia, has signed a letter of intent to begin a feasibility study. (BL) Mahindra & Mahindra will increase prices of its vehicles by over 1% across various models in January to offset rising input costs. (BL) ITC is willing to invest nearly Rs30bn in Bengal over the next four years. (BBL) Videocon Industries announced a new discovery of light hydrocarbons in a well, which is a part of a concession area of Sergipe Alagoas ultra deep water basin in Brazil. (BL) Neyveli Lignite Corporation has expanded its search area for the right pelletisation technology from Germany to Australia and Japan, as it seeks to increase the use of lignite for power production. (BL) Reliance Industries has agreed to an audit of its KG- D6 gas block for the three years ending March, without prejudice to its rights under the production sharing contract. (BS) Tata Communications has cut 300 jobs across global operations as part of its review to align business with current needs. (BS) US-headquartered Sutherland Global Services has acquired 100% stake in Apollo Health Street Limited, a BPO arm of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises. (BS) Fortis Healthcare Ltd will raise Rs20bn within two quarters, which will help it decrease its financial leverage substantially. (BS) IndusInd Bank closed its qualified institutional placement issue by raising Rs20bn. (BS) ICICI Bank has raised foreign exchange resources worth Swiss francs 100mn through seven year bond. The bond is priced at a coupon and re-offer yield of 2.75%. (BS) Axis Bank is set to make an early retirement offer to over 40-year-old executives who are vice-presidents and above and who have been with the bank for 10 years or more. (ET) British Telecom is selling its 9.1% stake in Tech Mahindra in a deal expected to raise about US$183mn. (ET) The inter-ministerial body Telecom Commission approved a subsidy of Rs15bn for supporting landline operations of BSNL in rural areas. (ET) Economy Snippets India’s exports in November contracted 4.17% year-on-year for the seventh month in a row, to US$22.2bn, due to a slowdown in demand in the US and European markets. However imports grew by 6.35% to US$41.5bn in November, leaving a trade deficit of US$19.28bn. (BL) Concerned over spiralling fares, the civil aviation ministry, which will launch an airfare monitoring cell next week, has decided to ask domestic carriers to reduce rates and increase passenger load factor that has been falling even in peak seasons. (BS) In the open market operations purchase auction of gilts, the Reserve Bank of India bought gilts worth Rs116bn of the ~Rs120bn announced. (BS) The government will raise the cap on supply of subsidised cylinders to households to nine from six, oil minister announced. (ET) Gross direct tax collection rose by 7.14% in the April-November period of the current fiscal, as against an annual target of 15%, on account of slower corporate activity. (ET)