Daily News Roundup - Feb 20 2014

Ashok Leyland Limited has launched new Light Commercial Vehicle "Partner" truck in Andhra Pradesh market packing with comfort features including air-conditioner and expects to go pan-India with it by March. (BL)

NTPC laid the foundation stone for a 1,600-MW power plant in Madhya Pradesh, plans to set up two more projects in the state. (BL)

Havells India Ltd has begun production at its new unit at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. (BL)

Elder Pharmaceuticals has appointed consulting firm Deloitte for restructuring the company and its brands, including ‘Eldervit’, following the sale of its formulation business to Torrent Pharmaceuticals for Rs20bn. (BL)

Blaming wrong classification for showing assets as bad debt, United Bank of India said the software system sourced from Infosys has "inherent deficiencies" in identifying quality of assets in certain categories. (ET)

Reliance Industries is in talks with 4 to 5 export credit agencies to raise over US$1bn in the next about 4 months. (BS)

The Delhi High Court approved a settlement among IDFC, the National Highways Authority of India and DSC Limited, paving way for IDFC to take over the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway project. (BS)

Apollo Hospitals Ltd has lined up an investment of Rs20bn in the next 2-3 years for adding 2000 new beds. (BS)

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has said it sees "no reason" behind deallocation of the coal block allocated to it in Chhattisgarh, saying environment clearance was granted to it on February 10. (ET)

The New York Attorney General and the US units of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd have settled claims that an agreement between the two drug makers unlawfully restricted competition. (ET)

Economy Snippets
India received US$1.1bn of foreign direct investment in December 2013, unchanged from the level in the same month a year earlier, according to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. (BS)

The government is planning to set up an independent office to manage the Centre's debt through an executive order till the time a proposed bill is tabled and passed by Parliament. (BS)

Moody’s said the subsidy provisions made in the interim budget will not meet the amount that the government will have to pay to oil marketers and full-year budget will have to set aside a whopping Rs422bn more in the March quarter. (BL)