Here are today’s headlines from the major financial newspapers in India. Look at the activity brewing up in the Oil & Gas sector in India and the Alternative Energy sector. Interestingly, for a consultant who has worked with Big 4 firms, Accenture has increased daily hours to 10 from the usual 8 to take care of the dip in the hourly rates for Indian operations. Will the Indian tech firms do the same? They will first need to reduce the bench strength and those who really don’t do much work.
- The government appointed board of Satyam Computer Services has asked SEBI to allow the successful bidder to take control of the company before completion of the open offer (ET)
- ONGC is close to winning US$7-8bn tender floated by Kuwait Oil Company to clean up the oil spill (ET)
- HCL Tech has won Rs3.9bn seven year contract from National Insurance Company (BS)
- IVRCL is looking to acquire an engineering company in Europe that specializes in water technologies for a consideration of c. UC$100m (ET)
- Suzlon Energy has won an order to supply turbines to generate 100 MW of power in China (BL)
- Eight companies including Reliance, GAIL, Cairn and Indian Oil have bid for six towns put on offer for supply of CNG and piped natural gas (FE)
- BPCL has deferred plans initial public offering of its subsidiary that is building a grassroots refinery in Bina, Madhya Pradesh (ET)
- Accenture has increased working hours from eight to ten in order to cope with lower billing rates for software projects (ET)
- ONGC would delist Imperial Energy at the London Stock Exchange on 9th March (FE)
- The government is considering a proposal to set up an independent regulatory body on the lines of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the US to oversee the work of auditors (ET)
- The government plans to open commercial coal mining activities in the country by allowing private companies to form joint ventures with state-run firms such as Coal India, NTPC, and the mineral development corporations of various state governments (ET)
- Mutual funds will soon be asked to specify the money invested in their schemes by their parent bodies, corporates and retail investors (FE)
- Leading telecom operators have sought TRAI approval to charge foreign telcos more for terminating overseas call (ET)
- The tax authority in the US has made disclosure of offshore accounts mandatory even for non-resident individuals or corporates who have significant business in the country (ET)
- Indian Oil is looking at selling oil bonds worth Rs10-15bn in the open market to reduce its borrowings. (Mint)
- New telecom operators and Reliance Communications have asked TRAI to reduce the termination charges. (FE)
- DLF is working out a procedure to return the earnest money deposited by customers wishing to exit the OMR project near Chennai. (ET)
- United Spirits may place restrictions on its joint venture partner on increasing its stake higher than that of the promoter. (BL)
- ONGC will raise Rs90bn through syndicated loans for its Dahej petrochemicals JV with Gujarat State Petroleum. (DNA Money)
- REC said its FY10 loan sanctions may be lower than current financial year’s projections due to slowing down of projects. (DNA Money)
- NTPC plans to borrow around 70% of the total Rs177bn it needs for expansion plans during FY10. (BL)
- Fertiliser companies have taken a series of objections against various provisions in the draft gas sales and purchase agreement forwarded by Reliance Industries. (FE)
- Australian drug regulator said it is reviewing 62 drugs sold in the country which are made by Ranbaxy at its Paonta Sahib plant, but so far has not found any quality problems. (ET)
- ONGC is looking at renegotiating the prices for 12 offshore support vessels with shipyards. (BL)
- Government is said to have withheld approval to Tata Communications’ plan to raise debt beyond the permissible limit and has sought to know why it needs those funds. (BS)
- Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Bros Entertainment have announced launch of a new Hollywood entertainment channel for India called WB. (Mint)
- Satyam will introduce a revenue-linked allowance from next month in a bid to minimise cost. (ET)
- Canara Bank will charge an interest rate of 8.25% for the first year for home loans. (ET)
- Bajaj Auto Finance will repurchase its non-convertible debentures worth up to Rs0.4bn from the open market. (Mint)
- Hexaware Technologies has announced 50% cut in basic pay for 350 employees about to be benched and 2-10% salary cut for employees above certain levels. (BL)
- Torrent Pharmaceuticals has appointed IBM India for consulting services, including upgrading of its SAP application and hardware infrastructure. (ET)
- Aurobindo Pharma has received tentative approval from the US FDA to sell antidepressant escitalopram oxalate in tablet form. (Mint)
- Kalpataru Power Transmission has bagged orders worth Rs3.7bn from Power Grid for supply of power transmission equipment. (BL)
- Ashok Leyland reported 57% YoY drop in February sales to 3,245 units. (BL)
- BEML has entered into a partnership with Sumber Mitra Jaya of Indonesia to bid for a contract mining business in India. (BL)
- Novelis has decided to shut its aluminium sheet mill in Rogerstone, UK due to a significant decline in orders. (DNA Money)
- Areva T&D India has bagged a contract for supply of hybrid gas-insulated substation worth Rs0.6bn to Rajasthan Rajya Vidut Prasaran Nigam Ltd. (BL)
- McNally Bharat Engineering is in talks with a Vietnamese company to explore possibilities of jointly building a power plant. (Mint)
- Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to sell its stake in the National Stock Exchange. (DNA Money)
- RBI has cut repo and reverse repo rates by 50 bps each. (BS)
- Government has approved 29 FDI proposals entailing total investment of Rs6.2bn. (ET)
- Bharatiya Janata Party said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) will be brought back if the National Democratic Alliance is voted to power in the Lok Sabha polls. (ET)
- The government plans to allow Indian companies to enter into share-swap deals with foreign firms to facilitate merger and acquisition activity. (ET)
- IRDA has asked insurance companies not to accept premium beyond Rs50,000 in cash in order to check money laundering. (Mint)
- Government has allowed companies located in SEZs to claim service tax refund for services availed outside the SEZs. (BS)
- Finance ministry has rejected a proposal by the commerce ministry to exempt exporters from fringe benefit tax on foreign travel. (FE)
- TRAI has released draft recommendations on rural telephony for overcoming various constraints coming in the way of increasing telecom penetration in rural India. (FE)
