INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - FEBRUARY 2007
The Month that was ...

News & important developments from the most prospective of the New World markets……. India. Our effort is to provide you with the latest and relevant developments that take place in the Indian business, economic and legal environment.

ECONOMIC & LEGAL NEWS

RAILWAY BUDGET 2007-2008

UNION BUDGET 2007-2008

GDP INCREASES ON FARMS: The economy has been growing faster than the country's gross domestic product (GDP) hit 9% in 2005-06 against the advance estimates of 8.4%.

MORE US VISAS FOR INDIANS: In an indication of the growing ties between India and the US, the US embassy here expects to issue 8 lakh visas this year, a jump of 3 lakh from last year.

BSES CHALLENGES RTI ORDER IN DELHI HC: Anil Ambani's power distribution company (distcom) BSES Yamuna Power has challenged a government panel decision exposing its functioning in the capital to public scrutiny under the Right to Information Act.

WTO TO REVIEW INDIA'S TRADE POLICY: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will review India's trade policy after a gap of more than four years.

SUPREME COURT CAN SCRUTINISE ANY LEGISLATION: Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has asserted that there is no limit to judicial review and that any parliamentary legislation can be challenged in the courts.

INDIA TO GET TRADEMARK PROTECTION IN 71 NATIONS: India will join the Madrid Protocol on international registration of trademarks.

GOVERNMENT, RBI GO ALL OUT TO TACKLE INFLATION: The past week saw an all-out effort from the Union government and the Reserve Bank of India to rein in runaway prices which pushed annual inflation rate to 6.73%.

BRITAIN TO KEEP IN ABEYANCE IMMIGRATION RULES THAT WENT AGAINST NHS RECRUITMENT: Apparently bowing to pressure from groups campaigning for aggrieved Indian doctors, Britain has given the medicos some relief by agreeing to keep in abeyance new immigration rules that went against them for the first round of recruitment to the National Health Service.

CABINET CLEARS PURCHASE OF RBI STAKE IN SBI, NHB & NABARD : The government will buy out RBI's 59.7% stake in the country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), in a cashless transaction with the Union Cabinet approving the transfer of equity.

CHEQUE BOUNCING: ONLY THE PERSON IN-CHARGE IS GUILTY: Merely being the director or an employee of the company does not make one responsible for the offence of cheque bouncing, the Supreme Court has ruled.

INSURERS SEEK TAX SOPS FOR LONG-TERM HEALTH POLICIES : If life insurers can convince the finance ministry, investments in long-term insurance policies with maturities beyond 10 years may receive special income-tax incentives.

27% OBC QUOTA GETS A SC POSER : IN A development that is certain to aggravate the quota woes of the Manmohan Singh government, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to explain why it should not stay the decision to implement 27% reservation in higher educational institutions for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). A bench comprising Justice Arijit Psayat and Justice S H Kapadia gave the centre two weeks to file its reply.

SERVICE TAX TO MAKE T&D LOSS FOR CONSUMERS : POWER consumers may be in for some rude shocks on the tariff front. The government has proposed bringing the power transmission and distribution industry under the service tax net. If the levy is imposed, it could push up power tariffs by an extra 5%.

RBI'S PROVISIONING CALL PUTS BANK STOCKS ON THE BRINK BANK shares ended mixed in a weak broader market after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) surprised markets by raising only the repo rate, while keeping the reverse repo rate unchanged.

LABOUR-INTENSIVE EXPORTS MAY NOT GET TAX SOPS : Exporters of labour-intensive items like leather, value-added marine products, handicrafts and sports goods which were promised tax sops by the Centre last year are in for a rude shock.

FINMIN NOT TO RELEASE ENTIRE PROPOSED GBS FINANCE ministry has decided not to release entire amount of proposed Rs 2,10,000 crore gross budgetary support (GBS) to the ministries as part of government's exercise to maintain fiscal discipline. It is likely to make phase-wise release of funds in the next fiscal (2007-08).

PANEL ON QUOTA FOR POOR GETS ONE-YEAR EXTENSION WITH the UPA's quota decision causing upper-caste unease about the Congress, the goverment attempted to contain the dissatisfaction by granting a year's extension to the commission evolving the criteria for identification of economically backward classes that are not covered in the existing reservation policy.

DELHI HC EXTENDS STAY ON BSNL GSM CONTRACT : The Delhi High Court extended its interim stay on award of contract by state-run BSNL for its Rs 20,000- cr project, to add 45 million lines in its GSM network till February 12. A Bench comprising Justice Swantater Kumar and Justice H R Malhotra fixed February 12 as the date for hearing Motorola's petition challenging BSNL's decision to disqualify it from the bidding process of the GSM contract.

GOVT SET TO BRING UP 57 PENDING BILLS : TO SUSTAIN healthy economic growth, the government has launched intensive efforts to clear dozens of new laws and amendments to existing laws that are awaiting parliamentary approval. The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, the Competition (Amendment) Bill, the Drugs (Control) Repeal Bill, the Factories (Amendment) Bill, the Warehousing (Development & Regulation) Bill and the Labour Laws (Exemption) Bill are among the proposals pending before Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

REALTY CAP GAINS TAX SOP MAY STAY FOR INDIVIDUALS : THIS is one tax break the government would love to dump but will end up truncating instead: exempting capital gains on real estate if they are invested in specified bonds. The government is examining the option of limiting the benefit to individuals and denying it to companies, partnerships and other organisations.

HETERO DRUGS GETS NOD TO PRODUCE 1% NADIFLOXACIN CREAM : In a relief to Hyderabad-based pharma company Hetero Drugs, the Supreme Court gave it the green signal to manufacture 1% Nadifloxacin cream used for treating various skin ailments.

EDUCATION LOANS HIGHER AMOUNT AVAILABLE NOW : In order to meet the increasing costs of education, banks have devised schemes to provide education loans. Students needing an education loan should approach these banks. Education loan schemes are very flexible and allow you to take longterm loans for all kinds of courses offered by recognised institutions, including part-time and correspondence courses.

HC RESTRAINS WYETH FROM USING RECKITT & BENCKISER'S DESIGN : The Delhi High Court has restrained Wyeth Limited, manufacturer of hair removal cream Anne French, from manufacturing and selling its products with design similar to that of Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd.

INDIAN MIGRANTS TO APPROACH UK HC : A forum representing thousands of highlyskilled Indian migrants, affected by recent changes in British Immigration law, will move HC here, challenging what they called "the unfair new legislation", affecting their future. Almost 90% of the 49,000 HSMP migrants (plus their families), majority of them Indians, are affected by the new law implemented with retrospective effect by the UK home office, HSMP group coordinator Amit Kapadia said.

GOVT TO EXCEED SERVICE TAX TARGET BY RS 6,000 CR : THE government is set to exceed the target of Rs 34,500 crore for service tax for this fiscal by close to Rs 6,000 crore on the back of buoyant collections in an economy poised to grow at over 8.5%.

$7.8-M GERMAN GRANT FOR WORK ON CLIMATE-CHANGE MODELS THE German ministry for economic cooperation and development has decided to give India $7.8 million for climate change adaptation activities. The money would be routed through GTZ, an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations.

SUPREME COURT ADMITS UNIVERSITY'S APPEAL AGAINST MUTUAL FUND : THE Punjab University has moved the Supreme Court seeking recovery of Rs 22.53 crore from a PSU MF in lieu of its investments made in 1998. While hearing the special leave petition challenging the National Consumer Disputes, the SC bench admitted the university's appeal.

DESPITE ACT REVISION, RBI AWAITS POWERS TO TWEAK CRR : THE Reserve Bank of India is still waiting to be empowered to change cash reserve ratio (CRR) rates despite an amendment in the RBI Act.

IMPLEMENT FOOD SAFETY LAW SOON, SAYS INDIA INC : India Inc wants early implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, which will have a major impact on consumers, processed food industry and food retailers. The move comes at a time when the emerging organised retail industry is seeking to build a farm-to-retail chain to build its business on the basis of huge volumes and thin margins.

DOT SEEKS NOD TO SLAP RS 400-CR FINE ON TELCOS : THE Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought the Telecom Commission's nod to impose a combined fine of Rs 400.15 crore on seven telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Hutch-Essar and Tata Teleservices for failing to fulfil their roll-out obligations.

J & K TO GET RS 560 CR FOR RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE : THE National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 460 crore for J&K under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for the current fiscal. This is besides the bank refinance of Rs 25 crore under ICD and a crop loan of Rs 3.70 crore.

PANEL SET UP TO EVOLVE COAL ALLOCATION POLICY : The government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of coal secretary to deliberate and evolve a policy for the allocation of coal. The move comes in wake of recent Supreme Court (SC) order discontinuing e-auction of coal by Coal India (CIL) and its subsidiaries.

DREAM OR SCREAM, SOPS MAY GO BEFORE CORPORATE TAX CUT : ADECADE ago, in 1997, finance minister P Chidambaram's dream budget saw the abolition of the surcharge on corporate tax and a cut in the corporate tax rates for domestic companies to 35%.

DON'T BRING EACH LITIGATION TO SUPREME COURT OF INDIA : Taking exception to the huge number of ordinary cases reaching it, the Supreme Court said that High Courts should be the last court of redressal of such grievances.

NOTICE TO CENTER ON EDUCATION QUOTA ACT : The Supreme Court sought an explanation from the centre as to why its Central Education Institution (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, which provides for reservation to SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes, should not be declared as unconstitutional and illegal.

CENTRE MAY ISSUE STAMP DUTY RATE FOR BONDS : A Parliamentary committee is likely to meet shortly to take up the issue of imposing uniform stamp duty on the issue of bond paper, a suggestion that was made by the expert committee under RH Patil.

IMPORT DUTY ON LUXURY CARS SET TO COME DOWN : If you fancy imported cars like Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Continental GT Flying Spur, Rolls Royce Phantom or the Lamborghini Gallardo, the forthcoming Budget could drive home some good news for you. The government is mulling a reduction in Customs duty on completely built units (CBUs), which is currently pegged at 60%.

MOBILES CAN ADD VALUE TO GDP : MOBILE phones are not just about getting connected, they can prove to be a great money spinner for the country's economic health by the virtue of productivity gains achieved by its users, especially in a developing market like India.

HIV TEST NOT MANDATORY FOR EMPLOYMENT, GOVT TELLS SC : THE Centre has told the Supreme Court that a mandatory testing for HIV/AIDS as a precondition for employment will be discriminatory and counterproductive. The apex court is hearing a petition moved by the state of Andhra Pradesh which has said that as per its revised Police Manual rule, HIV positive candidates are not eligible for appointment.

FDI SECURITY LAW FACES REFORMERS FLAK : THE move to enact a National Security Exception Act an umbrella legislation to screen all foreign investment from the security point of view is facing stiff resistance from a number of important ministries and departments.

SUPER SPECIALIST DOCS RETURN TO INDIA ON HEALTHCARE BOOM : THANKS to healthcare boom in India, increasing number of super specialist doctors have chosen to head home.

COPYCAT DRUG COS CONVERT, BACK MNCS ON PATENTS : Once known for trashing patents and denouncing prohibitive pricing by big pharma, Indian generic companies have changed their stance. Many have now begun siding with the multinationals to support the grant of patents for incremental inventions in India.

CST IN FADEOUT LANE, CUT TO 3% FROM APRIL : THE Union Cabinet gave its approval for initiating the process of phasing out of central sales tax (CST) with an initial reduction of 1% in the CST rate from 4% to 3% effective April 1.

CENTRE READIES TWO BILLS TO REGULATE UNORGANISED WORKERS : THE government has proposed two new Bills, the Unorganised Non-Agricultural Sector Workers (Conditions Of Work & Livelihood Promotion) Bill, 2007, and the Unorganised Agricultural Sector Workers (Conditions Of Work & Livelihood Promotion) Act, 2007, to regulate work of unorganised agricultural workers and non-agricultural workers respectively.

CONSUMER REDRESSAL IS JUST A CLICK AWAY : FEELING a fool because you fell for all that sales pitch and have now landed a device that doesn't quite function satisfactorily? Wanna take the brand to the consumer court? Nah! Who has the time for that? There's hope for the likes of you very soon, redressal may be just a mouse-click away.

FOOD PRICES MAY NOT BE ONLY TRIGGER FOR SOARING INFLATION : YOU may believe food is squarely to blame for inflation. But the truth is inflation has jumped between November and February even as food prices have tumbled.

INDIA'S PRICELESS GROWTH STORY : INDIA needs low, East Asian levels of taxes so said finance minister P Chidambaram in 1997.

TOBACCO'S HOPES GO UP IN SMOKE, YET AGAIN : "I STRONGLY support the campaign 'say no to tobacco'," are the words that struck doom and deja vu into the hearts of the cigarette and tobacco industry.

FBT ON ESOPS TO HIT WHERE IT HURTS MOST : This Year, The FM May not have done justice to his reformist image. But he hasn't missed out on the chance to garner Rs 3,000 crore for the exchequer.

CORE COS IN A KNOT OVER TAX HOLIDAY : Infrastructure companies like telecom, power, oil and gas, which enjoy tax holiday under Section 80-IA of the Income Tax Act, may have to rush with their plans of amalgamation or demerger to continue the exemption.

IMPORTED GOODS TO COST LESS, DURABLE COS SEE RED OVER CESS : For those who have been postponing the purchase of consumer durables, it's a mixed bag. While an 1% increase in education cess will make locally manufactured white goods costlier, a cut in peak customs duty will render certain imported items cheaper.

ESOP FBT FOR UNLISTED FIRMS MAY BE BASED ON SEBI RULES : The fringe benefit tax (FBT) on unlisted companies granting stock options to their employees is likely to be based on Sebi norms for valuation of shares in unlisted firms or the commonly accepted Wealth Tax rules.

TDS ORDEAL FOR SELF-EMPLOYED : Budget 2007-08 has dealt a body blow to a host of self-employed professionals like architects, engineers, accountants, advertising, etc. The rate of tax deduction at source (TDS) has been doubled from the earlier 5% to 10% for these professionals.

SC TELLS TDSAT TO DECIDE ON VALIDITY OF TRAI'S NEO ORDER : The Supreme Court asked TDSAT to decide on the validity of TRAI order lowering price for the Neo Sports channel from Rs 58.50 to Rs 37.25 without taking into account findings of Delhi High Court.

FAMILIES TO BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR ELDERS' WELFARE : The pain of being abandoned by their families may never go away, but such elderly parents and grandparents will at least have a roof over their heads or be assured of financial aid when a soon to be introduced bill is implemented.

PHARMA COS LOOKING AT NEW OPTIONS TO SETTLE PATENT CASES : Rising litigation costs and protracted court battles are leading innovator and generic pharma companies to look at new alternatives to settle patent infringement law suits in the US.

BUSINESS NEWS

INFOSYS WINS TRADEMARK DISPUTE: The Delhi High Court has directed computer education institute Park Infosys not to use the word Infosys in its name as it is a registered trademark of IT giant Infosys.

NOTICE TO LODHA ON BIRLA PETITION: The Supreme Court issued notice to RS Lodha on a petition moved by KK Birla, BK Birla and Yashovardhan Birla challenging a Calcutta high court order which had ruled that they do not have caveatable interest in the will of the late Priyambada Birla.

NO RELIEF TO HLL IN PEARS CASE: The Supreme Court refused to grant relief to Hindustan Lever which is facing prosecution in connection with its new product Pears Pure and Gentle Bathing Bar.

AIR INDIA, INDIAN TO BE MERGED INTO NEW COMPANY: Paving the way for creation of India's largest airline company, the Union Cabinet approved merger of Air India and Indian.

BOARD OF APPROVAL FOR 30 NOTIFIED SEZS: The board of approval (BoA) on special economic zones (SEZs) has accorded co-developer status to a number of developers of notified SEZs including Motorola and Foxconn, Mahindras and Ascendas and Petronet LNG and Kochi Port Trust.

DHOOTS ENTER TELECOM, SET TO PARTNER VERIZON: VIDEOCON one big name that missed out on the telecom boom story has finally got a foot in the sector. The $3-billion consumer electronics group will partner US telecom giant Verizon's foray into ILD services in India.

HAIER GETS FIPB NOD TO MARKET MOBILE PHONES: In an interesting turn to the recent debate over security concerns related to foreign investment, Chinese giant Haier International has obtained permission from the government to market mobile phones and fixed wireless phones (FWP) in India.

SUZUKI REVS UP FOR FUTURE TO INVEST: Suzuki Motor chief Osamu Suzuki announced the Japanese company would invest a total of 300 billion yen or Rs 10,800 crore in India going through to 2010.

PAN FOR ALL INVESTMENTS: Investors may soon have to quote PAN for all financial sector transactions, irrespective of the quantum of investment.

WIPRO TECH BAGS DALE CARNEGIE GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARD: Wipro Technologies has been awarded the Dale Carnegie Global Leadership Award for 2007 in recognition of the development of its human resources, innovation and organisational creativity for the purpose of achieving its business objectives.

DABUR PHARMA SELLS NON-ONCOLOGY BIZ TO ALEMBIC: Dabur Pharma said it is making an exit from the non-oncology business and is selling it off to Alembic for a consideration of Rs 159 crore.

SALEM STEEL BAGS RS 117-CR ORDER FROM KOLKATA MINT: SALEM Steel Plant (SSP) has bagged a Rs 117-crore order for supplying 11,300 tonnes of ferritic stainless steel strips to the government's mint in Kolkata.

DEUTSCHE IN EMAAR-MGF: DEUTSCHE Bank's New York-based real estate arm-RREEF-is in advanced talks with realty major Emaar-MGF for investing around $200 million in the company.

AKSH INKS RS 200-CR DEAL WITH UTSTARCOM: AKSH Optifibre has inked a Rs 200-crore contract with UTStarcom for procuring hardware equipment and components to make set-top boxes (STB) for its mega-IPTV project with public sector Mahanagar Telephone Nigam.

GENPACT PLANS INDIA'S LARGEST IPO IN US, TO RAISE $500-600M: India's largest BPO company has finalised its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US markets. Genpact will raise between $500-$600 million. This will be the largest IPO by an Indian company in the US.

PFIZER TO SELL CHANDIGARH PLANT, PLANS COST CUTTING: PFIZER India is in the process of selling off its Chandigarh plant and has already received a an advance of Rs 27.8 crore from a prospective buyer. "The products manufactured at Chandigarh came under the open general licence.

OILCOS CLOSE TO BAGGING BIG PROJECTS IN LIBYA: INDIAN oil companies are set to clinch major business deals in Libya. While public sector ONGC and Oil India-IndianOil combine are expected to get stakes in discovered oil blocks in the country, Indian companies having expertise in gas pipeline business may get city gas projects in Tripoli and Sana'a.

BURMANS ALL SET TO EXIT PUNJAB TRACTORS: THE Burman family is likely to sell its 14.5% stake in Punjab Tractors to the buyer of Actis' stake in the company, giving the acquirer a controlling 43% stake.

TIMPL WINS DELHI AIRPORT AD DEAL: DELHI INTERNATIONAL Airport Private Limited (DIAL) has awarded the licence for the advertisement locations at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, to Times Innovative Media Private Limited (TIMPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) which operates FM radio broadcasting stations under the brand Radio Mirchi.

RANBAXY, ZENOTECH IN PACT: Hyderabad: Hyderabadbased Zenotech Labs, a biotechbased specialty injectables company, and pharma major Ranbaxy Labs have entered into a global development and marketing agreement for launching a biosimilar product, G-CSF (filgrastim). The alliance combines Ranbaxy's regulatory and front-end capabilities and Zenotech's expertise in the manufacture of biosimilar products. For Ranbaxy, the pact signals its foray into the biosimilars space.

MICROSOFT,SKYPE SEEK REMOVAL OF LICENSING CURBS ON NET TELEPHONY: GLOBAL internet telephony major Skype has demanded that India remove all rigid applicationspecific licensing requirements for internet service providers and replace them with a light-touch regulatory regime.

NCR BAGS SBI ORDER TO SET UP 3,000 ATMS: NCR Corporation, the world's largest provider of ATM services, has bagged an order from the State Bank of India group to set up 3,000 ATMs, thus adding to the network of 5,600 ATMs across the country. This will make the SBI ATM network a formidable one to beat. This is the single largest order by a bank in India.

NEST PLANS $5B SEMICONDUCTOR UNIT IN KERALA: WITH the Centre giving inprinciple nod for the proposed semiconductor policy, US-based Network Systems and Technologies (NeST) has expressed its willingness to set up a fab in Kerala. NeST chairman Javed Hassan is in talks with the Kerala government. He has also reportedly roped in partners for the project.

OZONE PLANS RS 1,200-CRORE TOWNSHIP PROJECT IN CHENNAI: BANGALORE-BASED Ozone Group will launch a Rs 1,200-Cr mega township project in Chennai in April. The project, to come up over 42 acres near Anna Nagar, will offer 3.8 million sq ft residential space, 1.1 million sq ft of retail space, including a sixscreen multiplex, and a four lakh sq ft of hotel & service apartments. It is to come up in phases after obtaining approvals.

L & T TO JOIN HANDS WITH BOEING IN INDIA: LARSEN & Toubro (L&T), India's largest engineering company, is joining hands with the world's largest aircraft maker Boeing to explore business opportunities in the Indian defence sector.

LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONY LICENCE NORMS SIMPLIFIED: THE government has simplified the national and international long distance license norms, under which new entrants will be given three years to set up their infrastructure. The move will allow faster roll-outs and spice up competition in this sector as new licensees will now be permitted to ride on the infrastructure of existing players.

BAN ON KABULI CHANA EXPORT LIFTED: THE government has lifted the export ban on kabuli chana in a bid to alleviate the plight of farmers who reportedly have been unable to meet even half the cost of cultivating this variety of gram. Prices of kabuli chana last year increased to Rs 4,400-4,500 per quintal on rising export demand from countries in Europe and Middle East. The government, however, in a bid to curb rising prices of pulses enforced a ban on exports effective June last year.

MORGAN PARTS WAYS WITH JM, SET TO GO IT ALONE IN INDIA: JM MORGAN Stanley, the investment banking joint venture between US-based Morgan Stanley and India's JM Financial, formally split, in line with the trend among global players to go it alone in the fast-expanding Indian M&A market.

RPG BUYS OUT 29% IN ZENSAR FROM FUJITSU: JAPAN'S largest IT services company, Fujitsu Consulting, is believed to have sold its 29% in Zensar Technologies to the RPG Group, marking the end of another multinational-Indian joint venture.

SOPS TO CHIP MAKERS 40% LOWER THAN GLOBAL NORM: INCENTIVES offered by the government to set up semiconductor fab units are about 42.8% lower than what other nations offer to chip fabs. So, it may not be surprising if few players set up chip units, despite the fact that India is a rapidly growing market for semiconductor chips.

BENGAL FLOATS VC WITH RS 15 CRORE CORPUS: TO PROVIDE financial support for promotion of semi-conductor projects in the state, the West Bengal government has floated a venture capital firm with an initial corpus of Rs 15 crore. The company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Webel and has been christened Webel Venture Capital Limited (WVCL).

VISAKA MERGER WITH ICL APPROVED: Merger of associate company, Visaka Cement Industry (VCIL) with India Cements (ICL) is to take effect from July 1, 2006. As per the proposal cleared by ICL board on February 28, one equity share of Rs 10 each of ICL will be issued to the shareholders of VCIL for every five equity shares of Rs 10 each they held in VCIL.

JP MORGAN & BANKS PICK UP 1.5% STAKE IN EMAAR MGF FOR $100 M: FINANCIAL services major JP Morgan and a clutch of investment banks have bought around 1.5% in Delhi-based real estate firm, Emaar MGF, for $100 million (around Rs 450 crore).

BAR LIKELY ON LEASE, PURCHASE OF AIRCRAFT OLDER THAN 12 YRS: THE government may ban airlines to purchase or lease aircraft older than 12 years to encourage carriers to have relatively new fleet. Currently, age is no bar for buying or leasing old aircraft. The move is significant as the European Union has banned ageing planes of Pakistan International Airlines from landing in Europe due to safety concerns.

M&M BUYS OUT BURMANS, ACTIS IN PUNJAB TRACTORS: THE uncertainty over the Punjab Tractors (PTL) stake sale is finally over. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the country's largest tractor company, has agreed to pay Rs 360 per share for a 43.5% stake, valuing its rival company at around Rs 2,200 crore, according to sources close to the deal.

DABUR INDIA PLANS RETAIL FORAY WITH 400 OUTLETS : FMCG major Dabur India is all set to foray into organised retail. The Rs 1,900-crore company plans to set up a chain of 300-400 retail outlets, based on the health and beauty platform, across the country over the next few years.

NEW $2.3-B PSU TO HUNT FOR GLOBAL COAL ASSETS: The government is setting up a mega PSU with a war chest of around $2.3 billion (Rs 10,500 crore) for acquiring coal assets abroad.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND JOINT VENTURES

TATAS STEEL CORUS INTO WORLD'S TOP 5: CORUS, the erstwhile British Steel and one of the icons of Her Majesty's Empire, will now fly the Tricolour.

DUPONT TO SET UP R&D CENTRE IN HYDERABAD: Dupont India, subsidiary of the US-based $29 billion EI du Pont de Nemours, is setting up a research and development centre in Hyderabad at an investment of over Rs 100 crore..

GSK FOR LOCAL BUYS, GLOBAL PRODUCTS: GSK CONSUMER Healthcare (GSK) is upping its ante in India. In what is perhaps GSK India's most audacious move in a long time, the company is close to making key acquisitions in the healthcare and OTC spaces.

ORCHID CHEMICALS IN LICENSING, DISTRIBUTION PACT WITH ACTAVIS: Orchid Chemicals and pharmaceuticals has entered into a licensing and distribution agreement with pharma company Actavis for marketing its generic formulations in Europe.

DOT REJECTS BSNL-MTNL MERGER REPORT: The steering committee of the department of telecom (DoT) has rejected the merger proposal of BSNL and MTNL as proposed by the consortium of consultants led by ICICI securities.

MINDA GROUP EYES € 40-MILLION EUROPEAN BUY: Minda Group is in advanced talks for the acquisition of a Europe-based company.

INDIABULLS TO DEMERGE BROKING BUSINESS : Indiabulls Financial Services (IBFSL), one of the country's leading NBFCs, is demerging its securities brokerage business into a separate company and taking full control of two other subsidiaries by buying out the stakes of steel king LN Mittal and American hedge fund Farallon Capital.

BATES, DAVID MERGER SOON IN INDIA, TOP CHANGES LIKELY : The merger between WPP-owned agencies Bates Enterprise and David may finally come through in India in a couple of months, but it may have a huge cost associated with it.

BAJAJ AUTO HEADS FOR SPLIT: BAJAJ Auto could be headed for a division between Rahul Bajaj's sons Rajiv and Sanjiv with the demerger plan being put on the fast track.

VODAFONE CONNECTS, SNAPS UP HUTCH: Globalization came calling. Exactly 11 days after Tatas bought Corus, the biggest steel firm in the UK, it was the turn of a UK telecom major to reverse the roles.

RUSSIA TO INVEST $1 B DEBT IN JOINT VENTURES: India and Russia have agreed on the 'broad parameters' for using Russia's long-standing debt to India to finance investments in the country. Specific joint venture projects to be financed by the $1 billion worth of debt money will be identified later.

SEVERSTAL OFFERS TATA STEEL $1.9B FOR AILING CORUS UNIT: TATA Steel may be looking at selling part of Corus' assets to retire some of the debts it has raised to finance its $12.1-billion acquisition of the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker.

CAR TRIO INKS DEAL WITH TN FOR FIRST MULTI-BRANDS PLANT: Mahindra & Mahindra of India, Renault of France and Nissan of Japan have forged a unique manufacturing alliance to establish a greenfield car project at Oragadam, near Chennai.

AUTOLINE INDUSTRIES JV WITH STOKOTA: he Autoline Industries scrip slumped after its joint venture with Stokota NV. The stock hit the 5% lower circuit filter, closing at at Rs 310.7.