Daily News Roundup - Jan 11 2012

Maruti Suzuki sees buyers shifting to larger cars, but still lesser than four metres in length. (BL)

Consortium of 26 banks led by SBI, have rejected the debt restructuring proposal of Air India on the ground that plan would hurt profitability and erode capital. (BS)

Novelis Inc, the Canadian subsidiary of Hindalco Industries, has bagged a multi-year aluminum can sheet supply order from Coca-Cola Bottlers' Sales and Services. (BL)



Leyland Deere, a joint venture of Ashok Leyland Ltd and John Deere, is developing its second product for launch in India — the four-wheel drive wheel loader useful for coal handling and rail wagon applications. (BL)

MTNL is likely to come out with a nearly Rs2bn tender for expansion of 2G and 3G network services next month. (ET)

NMDC signed a contract for a by-product plant package for the upcoming 3mn ton integrated steel plant a Nagarnar with a consortium led by Shriram EPC Ltd. (BL)

TVS Motor Company plans to re-introduce its Victor brand of bikes by December this year. (FE)

Real estate player M3M has bought 28 acres in Gurgaon from DLF for ~Rs4.4bn to build a high-end residential complex. (BS)

Audit firm Price Waterhouse has said that the lawsuit filed against it by Mahindra Satyam was baseless and it would defend itself vigorously against any charges of negligence of duties. (BL)

Civil aviation minister has ruled out any government help for loss making Kingfisher Airlines. (BS)

The Delhi High Court will hear the final arguments on the petitions of Loop and Essar on January 24 as to whether their case should be heard by a magistrate or the Central Bureau of Investigation special court that is handling the 2G trial. (ET)

A group of minority shareholders of AkzoNobel, including Asian Paints, have objected to the company’s recent proposal, under which three unlisted group companies are to be merged with the listed firm at a higher valuation. (ET)

BSNL has decided to auction spare bandwidth in its network through e-tender process. (BS)

A fire that broke out around 7.00 pm on Tuesday at Indian Oil Corporation's 1mn ton Guwahati Refinery after a blast in one of the tanks has been controlled. (BL)
Economy Snippets

Moody's has upgraded India’s credit rating on short-term deposits in foreign currency from speculative to investment grade. (BL)

The Reserve Bank of India has raised a red flag over banks’ foreign currency loans to the Indian corporate sector, as data compiled by the regulator reveal only 40% of their exposure has been hedged. (BS)

Car sales in 2012-13 are expected to go up 11-13%, with the overall auto market posting up to a 12% growth as per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. (BL)

Indirect tax collections rose 15.9% in December at ~Rs348bn against ~Rs300bn in the same month last year. For the first nine months of this financial year, indirect tax collections grew 16.1% to ~Rs2.86tn on a yearly basis. (BS)

The Reserve Bank of India would buy ~Rs120bn of government bonds via Open Market Operations on Friday. (BS)

The Government has approved 20 proposals of Foreign Direct Investment worth R19bn. (BL)