NEWS as on 17.06.2010

Today news 17-06-2010

1. UNIT-linked insurance plans (Ulips), equity-oriented mutual fund schemes and a number of other popular savings and investment instruments will lose their tax immunity, and with it, their attractiveness when the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) comes into operation.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) plans to reduce the number of instruments that qualify for tax deductions to only about half a dozen, its chairman SSN Moorty said, as the government overhauls the direct tax regime to try and make it simpler, boost revenues and encourage long-term savings. The Rs 3-lakh tax deduction limit proposed in the draft DTC will also be lowered.
2. THE finance ministry is set to tighten the tax slabs for individual taxpayers, and could retain or marginally lower the existing corporate tax rate in the new Direct Taxes Code.
Revenue compulsions and giveaways on the minimum alternate tax (MAT) have forced the government to revisit the tax rates proposed in the code. These include MAT and securities transaction tax (STT) rates, besides corporate and income-tax rates.
3. Aiming to capture 10% of the Indian car market by 2016, German auto major Volkswagen will be increasing output at its Chakan plant within three months as part of its strategy.
4. Rupa & Co, the country's largest hosiery producer, is planning to launch the brand across countries in South-Asia and Africa . The company would be launched in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka , where it would offer licences to local partners for production and marketing, Rupa & Co chairman P R Agarwala said here on Wednesday.
5. THE country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki will launch CNGfuelled versions of half of its models this year as it looks at alternative fuel technology to build a more eco-friendly fleet for the Indian market.
6. SINGAPORE’S securities regulator has asked India ’s Fortis Healthcare to announce whether it plans to counter Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah’s bid for hospital chain Parkway Holdings by July 30 in shareholders’ interest.
7. Reliance Capital has agreed to buy an 18% stake in business news channel Bloomberg UTV, it said on Wednesday. “The investment will form a part of Reliance Capital’s exposure to the fast growing and high potential media sector,” it said without disclosing the deal size.
8. Engineering and construction firm Punj Lloyd on Wednesday said one of its subsidiaries has bagged a contract worth Rs 1,394 crore in Singapore . The project involves construction of a hotel, villas, marine life park and water theme park for Resorts World Sentosa, a subsidiary of diversified business conglomerate Genting Group.
9. ESSAR Oil today said that it has procured $115 million (nearly Rs 533 crore) of the proposed $300 million it had planned to raise through the issue of bonds to promoter company Essar Energy Holdings.
10. RELIANCE Industries, India’s biggest company by market value, plans to build at least one power plant in the country marking the oil company’s entry into commercial electricity generation, two company officials said.
11. SHRIRAM Group plans to take its general insurance overseas by setting up operations in countries such as Thailand , Indonesia and Vietnam . Shriram General Insurance is mulling a tie up with private equity or local partners for this purpose.
12. THE life insurance industry is expected to cross the Rs 3 lakh crore total premium income mark in 2010-11. During 2009-10, the life insurance sector’s new business premium increased 25% to Rs 1.09 lakh crore. Renewal premium, on the other hand, rose 12.63% to Rs 1.52 lakh core during the same period. Total premium income, at Rs 2, 61,025 crore, rose 18% during 2009-10, against Rs 2,21,791 crore in the previous year.
13. IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday said it has inked a multi-year outsourcing contract with Telenor Norway . The contract comprises IT application maintenance and development services and will involve modernization of Telenor Norway’s application portfolio across its fixed, mobile, data warehouse and accounting system domains, a release said here.
14. Apple Inc has sold more than 6,00,000 units of its newest iPhone after just a day of preorders, surpassing some analysts’ expectations and sending its shares up nearly 3% on Wednesday. The makers of the iPad and iPod said it and carrier partner AT&T had been forced to turn away “many” potential customers after the surprising volume of online orders triggered order and approval system malfunctions.
15. CIPLA, the Indian drugmaker that built a $1-billion business making generic HIV treatments, aims to sell copies of Roche Holding’s and Amgen’s best-selling biotechnology medicines with a partner in China.
Cipla chairman Yusuf Hamied plans to invest in companies in India and Hong Kong that make socalled monoclonal antibodies. The technology will enable Mumbai-based Cipla to gain access to products modelled on Roche’s Avastin and Herceptin cancer drugs and Amgen’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel, Mr Hamied said.
16. INVESTMENT in the Indian telecom sector will peak at $40 billion during the current fiscal as the country presses on to build a network of one billion mobile phones over the next two years, the Telecom Equipment & Services Export Promotion Council said on Wednesday.
17. ABOUT a dozen lossmaking state-run firms including Hindustan Photo Films and Scooters India may be delisted from stock exchanges on absence of revival prospects and investor interest to meet the new listing norms.
18. State-run power producer NTPC on Wednesday said it is sending a team to Australia for exploring the possibilities of coal mine acquisition there. “We had talked to the Australian government ... our team is going there in about 15 days ... New South Wales and Queensland these are the states we have zeroed in and they have good port connectivity, as well as black coal,” NTPC chairman and managing director RS Sharma said.
19. State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) have signed contracts with Reliance Industries to buy natural gas to replace costlier liquid fuel at their refineries. IOC has signed a Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) for buying 0.8 million cubic meters per day of gas from RIL’s eastern offshore KG-D6 fields, while HPCL has inked a pact for 0.2 mmcmd, officials at the state-owned firms said.
20. With production outlook improving and prices stabilising, the government has allowed export of 10,000 tonnes of refined sugar to the European Union (EU) despite restrictions. The relaxation has been given by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and the exports will be undertaken by trading firm Indian Sugar Exim Corporation during 2009-10 season ending September.
21. ONGC, SBI and RIL led the league table of the country’s top 100 tax payers for the fiscal first quarter, shelling out Rs 12,662 crore in advance taxes for the period, a nearly 19% jump over year-earlier levels.
22. Indian Bank on Wednesday said it plans to implement the financial inclusion programme in 5,563 villages in 19 states. Under the plan, the bank would press into service mobile van banking, which would have ATMs and credit disbursement facilities.
23. STATE Bank of India will launch its wealth management initiatives during the current financial year. This was indicated by the bank’s chairman OP Bhatt while speaking at the bank’s 55th annual general meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Mr Bhatt said the bank has already launched its financial planning and advisory services which guide customers on meeting their financial goals through a suite of products, including mutual funds, fixed deposits and insurance. “We plan to introduce wealth management services in a phased manner in 2010-11 to help high net individual clients preserve and grow their wealth,” he said.
24. Chennai-based Orient Green Power plans to mobilise Rs 900 crore through an initial public offer next month to part-finance its Rs 4,400-crore capex plan. It now plans to increase its renewable power generation capacity from the present 193 mw to 1,000 mw by 2013.
25. MEDIA and Entertainment Company Balaji Telefilms has so far failed to offer returns to investors over a one-year horizon. However, media reports that suggest Reliance Big Entertainment has evinced interest in buying a significant stake in the company may offer some solace for investors.
26. Pharma firm Parabolic Drugs’ Rs 200-crore IPO got subscribed 76 per cent by the end of the second day on Wednesday, with most of the bids coming in from QIBs. The issue got total bids for 2.02 crore shares against 2.66 crore on offer, thus getting subscribed 76%, according to NSE data.
27. Oil dropped from close to a one-month high in New York as a stronger dollar reduced the appeal of commodities to investors. Oil retreated as the US currency rebounded against the euro, limiting crude’s appeal as an inflation hedge. The euro fell to $1.2305 at 8:48 a.m. in London from $1.2332 on Tuesday.
28. Metals rise on Wednesday as economic reports added to optimism a US recovery will support global growth. Copper advanced for a seventh day, the longest streak since July 2009. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained as much as 1.4% to $6,770 a metric tonne.