NEWS on 11.06.2010

Today news 11-06-2010







1. THE Centre has mooted a proposal to set up a company that will be owned by all telecom operators and will be responsible for managing, maintaining and building communication networks for them. All international equipment suppliers—Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei, and Alcatel Lucent, among others—will execute contracts for all service providers through this company, if this proposal becomes reality, a department of telecom (DoT) official told ET.
2. VIDEOCON Telecommunications has started talks with Korea ’s Sun Kyung (SK) Telecom to sell a 26% stake, the latest attempt by it to bring in a foreign partner for its fledgling mobile phone services.
The founding Dhoot family wants Rs 3,600 crore from the sale, valuing Videocon Telecommunications at a little over Rs 13,000 crore ($3 billion), an executive with direct knowledge of the development told ET. But analysts are of the view that this may be asking for too much.
3. Leading European bonus card services provider Payback has acquired an 86% stake in India ’s largest loyalty card provider, i-Mint, in an all-cash deal, a top company official said. Payback is the card business arm of Germany-based Loyalty Partner, which provides loyalty management solutions through its Payback bonus scheme.
4. Animation production firm DQ Entertainment (DQE) on Thursday said it has signed an agreement with media firm Turner International India for broadcasting the first and the second sequel of animated feature 'Balkand'. The series would be aired on kids channels Cartoon Network and POGO, which are part of the Turner network, DQE said in a statement.
5. BACK office firm Intelenet Global Services has outbid bigger rivals such as Genpact and Wipro BPO to win the tender for providing outsourced call centre services for the prestigious Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) project, according to several people familiar with the decision.
6. RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL) is considering buying a stake in shale gas assets owned by Pioneer Natural Resources, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Pioneer, based in Irving , Texas , said last month that it expected to announce a JV for its Eagle Ford shale gas assets in the second quarter.
7. BACK-OFFICE services provider First source Solutions is in discussions with Barclaycard, part of Barclays Global and Retail Banking division, to take over its customer service centre in Teesside , UK . If the discussions are successful First source will take over the assets of the centre, including people and buildings, and deliver customer care for the UK bank’s credit card and payments business.
8. MAURITIUS-BASED fund Horse-Shoe Capital has filed a $100-million law suit in New York against American Tower over the sale of its Indian telecommunications tower assets. In May 2009, Horse-Shoe Capital sold 1,700 towers in India to American Towers in a deal valued at around $150 million. As part of the deal American Tower placed 16% of the payable amount in an escrow account because it wanted to know if tax was payable. The towers were operated by a company called Xcel Telecom.





9. CLOSE on the heels of Vodafone-Essar contesting a tax case in the Bombay High Court, tax sleuths have snared another multinational company for tax evasion. This time, French pharma firm Sanofi Aventis, that acquired India ’s Shantha Biotech last year, has been asked to pay Rs 650 crore as capital gains tax to the Indian government.
10. HINDUSTAN Construction Company (HCC) has sold 74% stake in a commercial building to IL&FS Milestone Fund for Rs 575 crore, putting the valuation of the property in Mumbai’s eastern suburb at Rs 775 crore.
11. ORCHID Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, a leading generic drug manufacturer, on Thursday said it will buy US-based marketing company Karalex Pharma for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition is likely to generate sales of Rs 100 crore this fiscal, Orchid’s managing director K Raghavendra Rao told a press conference. Chennai-based Orchid, which posted sales of Rs 1,315 crore in 2008-09, is likely to earn Rs 200 crore in the next three years.
Post the announcement, the Orchid stock rose nearly 5% to close at Rs 151 in a strong Mumbai market.
12. Nokia has registered nearly 15% decline in revenue at Rs 14,100 crore in 2009-10 over Rs 16,567 crore in the previous fiscal, mainly due to low prices and fierce competition from smaller players.
13. The government has cleared 17 FDI proposals worth Rs 569.41 crore, the bulk of which will go to Hindustan Media Ventures and Turmeric Vision. While the proposal of Hindustan Media entails foreign investment of Rs 350 crore, another from Turmeric Vision entails FDI of Rs 122.10 crore. Finance ministry said the decisions are based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) taken at a meeting on May 31, 2010.
14. THE government on Thursday raised the minimum support price of paddy by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1000 per quintal in what may push up its food subsidy bill, pegged at Rs 5 5,578.18 crore in the current fiscal.
15. THE government may take a call next week on the proposed stake sale in Hindustan Copper after the union cabinet deferred a decision Thursday on disinvestment in the two state-run miners, HCL and Coal India .
16. FOOD price inflation rose for the second week running due to a rise in the prices of essential commodities such as fruit, pulses and milk, defying the government’s efforts to tame runaway food prices.
An index tracking wholesale food prices climbed to 16.74% for the week ended May 29 compared with 16.55% in the previous week. The unabated increase in the prices of essential items is expected to force the Reserve Bank of India to tighten the liquidity in the system in the first quarter review of monetary policy on July 27.
17. India’s largest insurer LIC and four leading banks, including the IDBI Bank, may invest around Rs 160 crore in Videocon Industries to fuel its expansion programme. The Rs 161-crore investment would be done by way of preferential allotment and will enable Videocon Industries to meet its working capital requirements and ongoing capital expenditure, Videocon Industries said in a notice issued to its shareholders, prior to its Extraordinary General Meeting later this month.
18. THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said banks should obtain senior management approval to continue business relationship with an existing customer who has subsequently become a politically exposed person and that banks should conduct customer due diligence (CDD) on politically exposed people (PEP).
19. RAJENDRA Thacker, who has filed a public interest litigation against Sebi’s ban on sale of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulip) by insurance companies, urged the Bombay High Court on Thursday that the PIL should not be transferred to the apex court.
20. The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved rules that will halt trading in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index stocks during periods of volatility, a response to the May 6 plunge that wiped out $862 billion in 20 minutes
21. Oil prices hovered above $74 a barrel on Thursday after falling US crude inventories suggested demand is improving. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up 37 cents to $74.75 a barrel at late morning European time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.