The government is considering a fresh stimulus of around Rs 20,000 crore for manufacturing companies and non-banking finance companies routed through the Stressed Asset Stabilisation Fund (SASF) Trust that is currently mandated to deal with bad and doubtful debts of IDBI Bank.
Korean car maker Hyundai Motors India Ltd said it will have to lay off 2,000 temporary workers, about one-fourth of its labour force, to tide over a decline in car sales. The company employs over 8,400 workers, of which around 3,300 are temporary.
The key to last week's revival package, in the infrastructure sector, is the two-year old India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and the efforts of its chairman and managing director, Surinder Singh Kohli.
UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC), India's oldest mutual fund, is in advanced stages of discussions to divest 26 per cent to a strategic partner.
This is the second project in the country in which a metro rail project is being undertaken through a PPP model after the 71-kilometre Hyderabad metro project was won by Maytas Infrastructure. According to industry sources, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro had also initially shown interest for the project, but backed out finally.
This is the first time Hill & Knowlton, part of the WPP group that has several joint ventures in advertising, is venturing into India in this area. The Hong Kong-based company has presence in more than 41 countries across the globe. The PR business has been attracting the attention of international agencies and many have already set up JVs or signed partnerships with Indian players.
D B Corp, the owner of the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, is in advanced discussions with broadcaster INX Media to acquire a stake in the company that operates the entertainment channels as well as a majority stake in its English language news channel NewsX. Both companies are promoted by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, the former Star India CEO.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on opening a massive Rs 75,000 crore refinance window to provide concessional funds for infrastructure, housing and small and medium enterprises by partly leveraging the country's foreign exchange reserves.
Unitech Ltd, the country's second largest real estate firm, has decided to sell its 200-room budget hotel Courtyard by Marriott in Gurgaon ahead of its inauguration in January 2009.
Days after NTT DoCoMo of Japan announced that it will buy 26 per cent in Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion, NRI businessman C Sivasankaran has decided to put on the block his eight per cent stake in the company.
After 11 years of hanging like a sword on PepsiCo India Holdings Ltd, the government's condition that the company must dilute its equity in fully-owned downstream ventures is close to being waived.
AS Bindra, the father of ace shooter and Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, has defaulted to banks and financial institutions. The money claimed from Bindra is over Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million). He had borrowed it in the 1990s to set up a meat processing plant under Punjab Meats Ltd.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has rejected a proposal by Tata Investment Corporation (TIC) to issue zero coupon convertible bonds (ZCCBs) with detachable warrants to its shareholders.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on measures that include relaxing norms for Non-Performing Assets (sticky loans) and prudential lending to kick-start key infrastructure projects.
The price has been cut 39 per cent to Rs 555.85 from Rs 908 per share originally after its request to redeem the bonds ahead of maturity was rejected by the Reserve Bank of India.
The government is discussing a number of policy measures to insulate India from the impact of the global financial crisis including further banking reform, industrial de-control, auctioning all loss-making public sector units, foreign investment in retail, amending labour laws and notifying important pending legislation like the Delhi Rent Control Act.
Falling equity markets have trapped major private equity investors such as Warburg Pincus, Blackstone Group, Carlyle, Apax Partners, Chrys Capital and Citigroup.
Singur divided between those who want Tata back and those who just want their land.
Indian companies that raised large sums of foreign funds to finance growth and acquisition plans during the bull run in the stock markets are in a Catch 22 situation. The conversion price of their foreign currency convertible bonds is several times higher than their current market prices.
