The country's leading steel producers have devised a new strategy to pass on rising raw material costs to the end users without raising prices. Companies are now levying raw material surcharges while keeping the base price unchanged.
The mandatory 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol may not happen for the existing 101 million vehicles on the Indian roads without introducing technical changes in them. The central government plans to make 10 per cent blending compulsory from October from the current 5 per cent. Existing vehicles are not capable of running on 10 per cent ethanol-blended petrol as ethanol releases more heat and can corrode vehicle engines, experts say. It will lead to a 3% drop in mileage.
On Tuesday, in the midst of the government's multi-pronged crackdown on inflation, the cement producers had announced a rise in prices. The export ban will augment domestic availability while the cheap imports from Pakistan will soften prices.
The price rise in individual key food commodities over the last one year is significantly higher than what is conveyed by the wholesale price index. While the latest government data show inflation at 6.68 per cent for the week ended March 15, the price change in most food items is in double digits.
DCM Shriram Industries , too, is issuing 700,000 warrants to its promoters, Tilak Dhar and his brothers, which will raise their shareholding from 32.54 per cent to 42 per cent, though this has been challenged in the courts by shareholder Harish Bhasin, who has mounted a takeover bid on the company.
The government has put a spanner in the plans of oil companies like Reliance Industries Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited to make ethanol directly from sugarcane, without producing sugar.
Gems and jewellery exports may have risen over 20 per cent so far this fiscal, but the rising rupee has cost 150,000 diamond workers their jobs in the last one year, the head of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Sanjay Kothari, said.
They have realised that there is a lot of money to be made from selling ultra-luxury villas at holiday destinations in India. The target customers will be high net worth individuals, since each of these villas is being branded as "second homes" and will be sold for upwards of Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million).
Reliance Industries, Tata Chemicals, Bharti Enterprises' Fieldfresh and Indian Oil are among several large companies that have evinced interest in leasing closed sugar mills that the Bihar government is offering, mainly to exploit opportunities to make ethanol to meet mandatory petrol blending norms that were introduced this year.
Last week, when Harish Bhasin, the Delhi-based stock broker, made an open offer for DCM Shriram Industries Ltd, he was back in news after almost 25 years.
DLF, the country's largest realty firm, is eyeing the India franchise rights of ultra luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo. The Italian brand's original franchise partner, Sports Station India, has decided to exit the business and instead concentrate on premium brands such as Levi's and Dockers.
One of Lutyens' Delhi's much sought after addresses, 1 Prithviraj Road, is being put up for sale. Anil Thadani, the founder of private investment advisory firm Schroder Capital Partners, is the owner of the property, which is just under one acre. Sources told Business Standard that the property was being valued at Rs 60-80 crore (Rs 600-800 million).
DLF Ltd is acquiring the privately-held super luxury resorts and spa chain Singapore-based Amanresorts for around $250 million.
Bharti Airtel and United Breweries have expressed interest in acquiring, respectively, the Delhi and Bangalore or Mumbai teams in the impending Indian Premier League for Twenty20 cricket matches.
A disclosure on its land reserves by the joint venture firm Emaar MGF has sparked off a debate on whether a real estate company with foreign investment can own agricultural land in India. Dubai-based Emaar holds around 41 per cent in the joint venture that is expected to raise Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) from an upcoming maiden public issue.
Real estate firm Parsvnath Developers' quest for a mobile licence seems to have hit a roadblock at the Department of Telecom (DoT). Parsvnath, which is one of the seven realty firms in the fray for mobile licences, hasn't mentioned the business of "telecommunications" in its memorandum of association (MoA).
Leading TV channels will see a blackout of spot advertising from midnight tonight after Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Airtel, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Reliance Communications, among others, directed their media-buying agencies not to book such advertisements on 16 news and entertainment channels, including NDTV, Network 18, Zee News, Star News, starting October 16.
Cement shipments from Pakistan will hit the Indian markets by the end of the month at prices that are up to a third lower than domestic prices.
An assorted bunch of farmers, small traders and non-government organisations (NGOs) have trained their guns on a legislation that allows private companies to directly procure produce from farmers. Termed the Model Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, the legislation was drawn up by the central government a few years back.
AT&T has also applied for a universal access service licence (UASL), which allows operators to offer services in both GSM and CDMA technology, with the Mahindra & Mahindra group, for 22 circles. The US company, however, has stipulated that it wants a majority equity stake in the mobile venture.