RIL likely to sell or lease out fuel pumps to IOC

Reliance Industries might propose to sell or lease out its 1,432 petrol pumps to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), even as it will reopen shortly the outlets that were shut a year ago,

Eveready unveils Ultima batteries for power hungry gadgets

Eveready Industries launched Ultima batteries suited for the high-end power gadgets like digital cameras, MP3 players.

These batteries based on alkaline technology suited for the gadgets like digital cameras, MP3 players and high-end toys.

ONGC to borrow Rs 100 bn for its two arms

Two subsidiaries of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will borrow over Rs 100 billion in a month,

ONGC Petro-additions (OPaL), a special purpose vehicle which is establishing a petrochemical project in Dahej, will raise Rs 80 billion; while ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) will borrow Rs 20 billion. ONGC holds 26% and 50% equity interest in OPaL and OTPC, respectively.

Bharti Airtel to reshuffle businesses into 9 arms

In order to expand into areas beyond its mainstay, voice telephony, Bharti Airtel will reshuffle its businesses into 9 arms under different CEOs

The company has already identified some of these verticals such as mobile commerce, entertainment, media, internet, enterprise services and small & medium businesses.

Pyramid Saimira to drag I-T dept in Madras High Court

Pyramid Saimira will knock Madras High Court`s door on March 16, in reaction to the Income-Tax department`s decision to attach the company`s over Rs 2.40 billion bank accounts for alleged non-payment of tax,

Vedanta to invest Rs 1.25 bn on CSR in India

Vedanta Resources is set to invest Rs 1.25 billion for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in India next fisca

he capital expenditure in CSR is part of the company`s business plan to give back to society.

The areas where Vedanta Group would be investing are education, health, nutrition and women empowerment.

The investments would be made across Rajasthan, Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Goa where it has its operations.

The group proposes to cover 2.5 million under-privileged children via computer education, mid-day meal and anganwadi projects within 3 years.

ICICI Bank`s broking arm puts listing plans on hold

In the wake of bearish stock market, ICICI Bank`s broking arm, ICICI Securities announced that it has put its initial public offer (IPO) plan on hold

In January last year, ICICI Securities board had approved an IPO to offload 15% of its equity to retail and institutional investors.

World Bank to clear USD 2.6 bn loan for India

World Bank (WB) will soon clear a USD 2.6 billion special loan package for India, reports Business Standard.

In December last year, World Bank had decided to increase its exposure to India to USD 14 billion from about USD 8.1 billion in the next 3 years.

Under the package, India Infrastructure Finance Company is expected to get USD 1.2 billion, SIDBI USD 400 million and Power Grid Corporation USD 1 billion.

World Bank is also working on a USD 3 billion loan for recapitalization of public sector banks

Confidence Petroleum bags orders worth Rs 428.90 mn

Confidence Petroleum India announced that the Khopoli Cylinder Manufacturing Plant, a cylinder division of the company has secured two orders worth Rs 428.90 million.

The first order worth Rs 377 million is from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation while the second order valuing at Rs 51.90 million has been received from Indian Oil Corporation for supply of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders

India may face deflation from next month: Goldman

Indian economy is headed towards deflation, said a leading global economic research firm, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs expects the year-on-year (y-o-y) change in the wholesale price index (WPI) to be negative starting from April and could remain so till end-2009, driven by the ongoing demand destruction as well as a high base from 2008.

Goldman expected the economy to enter a period of deflation from next month, and predicted it to last till the end of the calendar year due to continuing demand destruction and a sharp step up in the base.

RSBL, NCDEX to start bullion spot exchange

The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) along with Riddhi Siddhi Bullion (RSBL), one of the leading bullion trading firms in the country is planning to start a spot exchange for precious metals known as NCDEX Bullion

An agreement to this effect has been signed by RSBL and NCDEX. The exchange would be known as NCDEX Bullion and is likely to be launched within a month.

State Co-Operative Bank ties up with Metlife

Nagaland State Co-Operative Bank Ltd, ‘the flagship Bank for the people of Nagaland’ has tied up with Metlife India Insurance Co. Ltd for marketing various life insurance products to its clients. B. K Thadani, Managing director while announcing the merger said that the Bank-assurance proposal received from Metlife was critically examined by the Bank and was finally approved by the Chairman of the Bank Toshi Aier, IAS, principal secretary and financial commissioner, Government of Nagaland.

UBS may cut up to 5,000 jobs

Swiss financial giant UBS AG reportedly intends to slash up to 5,000 senior and management positions in the coming few weeks. According to a report appeared in the Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung on Sunday, the company, ravaged by bad U.S. assets, could cut up to 2,500 management positions in its wealth management division. This division employs about 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.


In February, the company said that by the end of the year its Investment Bank division would further reduce its headcount to 15,000 by effecting a reduction of about 2000 positions. The company had earlier announced a cut of 1,782 jobs during the fourth quarter, most of which affected the investment bank.

United States-Drought reisistant corn.

The Monsanto Company has completed regulatory submissions in the U.S. and Canada for the world’s first biotech drought-tolerant corn product developed together with Germany-based BASF.

American Tower to buy India Xcel for $136 mln

U.S.-based American Tower Corp is set to acquire India's Xcel Telecom in a deal worth more than 7 billion rupees ($136 million)

Xcel, founded by former BPL Mobile chief executive Sandip Basu, provides shared telecom infrastructure and services for telecom operators in India.