Daily News Roundup - Feb 28 2012

Citigroup Inc, facing pressure to raise capital to comply with stricter norms, will sell its holding in India’s biggest mortgage lender, HDFC for Rs.100bn nearly tripling investments in five-and-a-half years.(ET )

Tata Communications , seeking to raise its profile around the globe, unveiled a technology partnership with Formula One motor racing, a further sign of the sport's growing appeal in emerging markets.(ET)

Air-conditioner makers such as LG, Godrej and Panasonic have reported up to 25% fall in their sales to dealers from January till this week—a period when companies usually dispatch almost half of their summer inventories.(ET)

The Adani Group plans to transform and streamline its businesses to focus on three core sectors — resources, logistics and energy — and will spend US$6bn to expand globally.(ET)



UAE telecom operator Etisalat has initiated legal proceedings against its Indian joint venture partner for fraud after the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued in 2008, including all 15 mobile permits held by the Gulf carrier’s local arm.(ET)

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Videocon are riding high on a giant gas find in Mozambique, where their stakes are valued at US$2 bn each, but both are keen to hang on to their holdings as the value is expected to grow and they can ship the gas to India.(ET)

Sunteck Realty has acquired 16 acres of land in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb for Rs.3bn. (ET)

Kingfisher Airlines has told the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that it will make 16 more aircraft operational next week, taking its total fleet size to 44.(ET)

Reliance Industries is looking to raise up to US$500 mn by selling bonds to foreign investors, said a top official.(ET)

State Bank of India will raise Rs.79bn through sale of shares to the government at Rs. 2,191.69 a share to improve its capital position that will enable it to lend more for businesses and individuals.(ET)

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd has finalised plans for setting up of a greenfield batteries plant with an investment outlay of Rs1.9bn.(BL)

TRF Ltd, a Tata enterprise, and Schade Lagertechnik GmbH on signed an agreement that allowed TRF the exclusive right to manufacture and market Schade's high capacity bulk material handling equipment in India.(BL)

Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd aims to raise up to Rs.5bn through a qualified institutional placement of shares.(BL)

Private life insurer Future Generali is open to having banks as equity partners, according to a top official of the company.(BL)

Coal India Ltd (CIL) will seek offtake commitments from power utilities before importing, as has been asked by the Prime Minister’s Office.(BS)

Ashok Leyland, is planning to set up a new production facility near Chennai, which is expected to be ready in three years, will support the growing domestic demand and anticipated export demand.(BS)

Economy Snippets
The human resource development ministry will soon seek Cabinet nod to procure 50 lakh Aakash tablets to be distributed among college students by this year end.(ET)

The government plans to give a new push to the manufacturing sector. It will encourage domestic manufacturers in public procurement, provide them a level playing field, cut red tape and redefine the role of state enterprises to restrict them to areas that are vital but not attractive for the private sector.(BL)

The country's exports during the current fiscal would be around US$300bn, an increase of 22 % from US$245 bn achieved last year, said the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma,.(BL)

The MSME Ministry is considering enhancing the corpus towards innovation multi-fold to Rs.25bnore to bring forth more innovative products in the sector, thereby increasing competitiveness in the international market.(BL)