Daily News Roundup - July 18 2013

ArcelorMittal has decided to scrap the 12-million-tonne-a-year plant in Odisha following delays in getting land and securing captive iron ore resources. (BL)

At a time when the Prime Minister’s Office is busy paving the way for fuel linkage to new power projects, India’s largest electricity generation company, NTPC Ltd, is claiming that capacities worth nearly 5000 MW are lying idle due to lack of demand.(BL)

The transportation infrastructure business segment of L&T has bagged an order worth Rs20.85bn from the Transport Ministry of Oman for the construction of Al Batinah Expressway Package 4. (BL)

Lanco Resources Australia has secured conditional approval from the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia to develop a coal-handling berth at Bunbury port. (BL)



The Government has decided to revise the natural gas prices in India by April 1, 2014. This is likely to increase oil subsidy. And there are reports saying OIL and ONGC may have to shell out more funds to meet the higher subsidy. (BL)

Agrotech Foods will enter the olive oil category with a new brand — Olivea.(BL)

Vodafone has got a regulatory breather with the government allowing 100 % foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector, say analysts. (BS)

Blackstone Capital Partners, is acquiring a majority stake in Chennai-based auto part maker Agile Electric Works, and its listed arm, Igarashi Motors India Ltd (IMIL). (BS)

Following the new domestic gas pricing formula announced by the Centre last month, GSPC’s ambition to charge KG gas in parity with the imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) at US$14.2 a million British thermal unit (mBtu) has fallen flat. (BS)

Ashok Leyland unveiled its Stile, a multi-purpose vehicle in the light commercial vehicle segment (LCV).

Sesa Goa has sought Finance Minister P Chidambaram's intervention and requested him to anchor the coordination between various government departments, so that the mining ban issue can get resolved in the Supreme Court. (ET)

Economy Snippets
Mutual funds faced Rs500bn redemption orders from banks and companies on Tuesday, prompting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide them a three-day repo borrowing window at a 10.25 % interest rate .(BS)

According to Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, nearly half (46.4 %) of the country’s gross domestic savings in 2011-12 were in physical assets — a nine-year high.(BS)

Under pressure from international retailers, the government might soon amend the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy on multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) by easing some conditions which had drawn sharp criticism from global investors.(BS)

The government is working on a modality to facilitate creation of more work spaces in sub-urban areas to increase manufacturing in garment sector, besides a score of other measures to boost textiles industry.(ET)