HOT FROM THE PRESS :

* TATA MOTORS : Chairman expects Jaguar LandRover unit to turn around soon..
GE Capital signs agreement with JLR to provide working capital facility of
£170mn for 5 yrs.. seperately the Thai unit plans to exports pickup trucks
to Malaysia & Indonesia to take advantage of tariff cuts

* INFOSYS : CFO expects the budgets of its customers to be unchanged or
slightly lower next year

* JP ASSOCIATES : plans to sell 60mn shrs in its unit Jaypee Infratech & borrow
Rs 5bn via commercial paper

* SPICEJET : merger between SpiceJet & GoAir hits roadblock as no consensus on
valuations.. they have agreement for exclusive negotiations till March'10

* ICICI BANK : plans to go aggressive on car & truck loans but remains
cautious on two wheeler financing

* BHARAT FORGE : plans to enter power sector with investment of Rs 500bn and
targets generation capacity of 10k mw over next 10 yrs

* TATA STEEL : to raise annual iron ore production by 55% to 17mn tonnes in nxt
2 yrs at a cost of Rs 11bn to insulate its steel plant from RM px flucutations

* JET AIRWAYS : plans to sell $400mn worth of new shares to large investors
thru a QIP

Corporate News – Industry trends

* GE Capital signed an agreement with Jaguar Land Rover, the UKbased
subsidiary of Tata Motors, to provide a working capital facility of
up to £170 mn for a five-year term; The move will boost working
capital within the company by shortening the 3040 days gap the
company has to wait between producing cars and delivering them to
over 90 countries (BS)

* Aban Offshore, the Chennai-based drilling firm, raised US$150 mn in
QIP on Monday (BS)

* Steel Authority of India Ltd cut prices of some of its products, used
primarily by the automobile and the white goods industry, by Rs 500 a
tonne, mainly on weak global demand (BS)

* Suzlon Wind Energy Corp, the North American arm of Suzlon
Energy, has bagged a 21 MW order from Grant County Wind Farm in
Minnesota (BL)

* The Kalyani group’s flagship company Bharat Forge is planning to
make a big foray into the power sector with an investment of up to Rs
500bn and a targeted generation capacity of up to 10,000 mw, over
the next 10 years (ET)

* Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced two significant agreements
with US-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation; Glenmark will codevelop
a dermatological product with Medicis, for which it will receive
US$5 mn as one-time payment. Separately, its generic arm, Glenmark
Generics, agreed with Medicis to settle all pending patent issues with
two of the latter’s products (BS)

* Tata Steel, the world’s sixth largest steel maker, is raising its annual
iron ore production by 55% to 17 mn tonnes in India over the next two
years. The expansion is expected to cost about Rs 11bn (BS)

* US telecom major AT&T and the world’s largest chipmaker Intel were
among the foreign players who showed interest in the pre bid
conference for third generation (3G) spectrum, which kick started the
process for 3G auction in the country (BS)

* Iran has sought at least US$1 bn as advance from India for supplying
five mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year from 2012, but the
demand may not be entertained by the buyers (BS)

* Retail chain Shoppers Stop said it will invest Rs 2500 mn in the next
three years to open 15 more stores across the country (ET)

* The Government’s efforts to bridge the fiscal deficit is expected to
get a further boost with the proposed disinvestment in public sector
mining and steel making firms, National Mineral Development
Corporation and Steel Authority of India Ltd, fetching about Rs
300bn (BL)

* Marking a first, power major NTPC Ltd has got an insurance cover for
an entire village for five years against any disaster or mishap while
carrying out work on a hydro-power project in Chamoli district of
Uttarakhand (BL)

* The Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament is
expected to see renewed high-stakes bidding with two new teams up
for grabs from the fourth season starting 2011; Bidders will be offered
a choice of eight to 10 cities that can be made their home team venues
and they will be allowed to bid for any number of cities (BS)
Economic/Regulatory development

* FOREIGNERS’ investment in Indian equities could reach record
levels this year, as global investors borrow cheap in developed nations
and invest in high-yielding assets of emerging markets such as India
which may push policymakers to consider measures to contain the
inflows, although reluctantly (ET)

* The finance minister have asked for a US$1 bn loan from World bank
to build a two-lane highways in areas that may not support roads built
in partnership with private firms (Mint)

* The Railways have posted a 9% growth from freight traffic between
April to October this year, earning at least Rs 320 bn from the segment
(Mint)

International trends

* General Motors Co, signalling confidence in its recovery from
bankruptcy, said it generated US$3.3 bn in cash in the third quarter
and plans to start repaying government loans early (BS)

* Japan’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than two
years in the third quarter, led by a rebound in domestic demand that
may ease concern of a return to recession next year; GDP rose at an
annual 4.8% pace, more than the forecasts of all 20 economists in a
Bloomberg News survey, after a 2.7% gain in the second quarter,
Cabinet Office figures showed in Tokyo (BS)

* US retail sales rose more than expected in October due largely to a
big rebound in auto sales (ET)

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