Reliance Energy to consider share buy-back
  
Reliance Energy Limited, on Tuesday, announced that the board of directors of the company would meet on March 5, 2008, to consider, inter alia, the buy back of equity shares of the company, subject to necessary approvals. Reliance Energy Ltd, a part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is India’s leading private sector utility compnay and is ranked amongst top 20 listed private companies.

BHEL bags Rs 1,075-crore order for power plant

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), on Tuesday, said it has bagged a Rs 1,075-crore order for setting up a 350-MW power plant in Gujarat. Gujarat State Energy Generation Ltd has placed the engineering, procurement and construction order for the gas turbine-based combined cycle power plant to be installed at Hazira in Gujarat, BHEL said adding that the project is scheduled to be completed in 27 months. Scope of work for the project includes supply and commissioning of a gas turbine generator set, one steam turbine generator set and heat recovery steam generator along with associated auxiliaries.

Reliance in JV talks with Marks & Spencer

British retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) are in talks with Reliance Industries Ltd about selling its food range in India, a newspaper reported on Tuesday in London. The report from Mumbai quoted a source close to Reliance Industries as saying the Indian group had discussed possible joint ventures with several western brands, including M&S. The newspaper said M&S plans in India could be pushed by recent reports suggesting John Lewis, which runs the Waitrose supermarket chain in Britain, is looking to accelerate its Indian expansion. India and China are among the most lucrative markets for M&S, with plans to invest up to 1.1 billion pounds ($2.2 billion or Rs.86.5 billion). 

GM India appoints new dealer in Bangalore

General Motors India, on Tuesday, announced that it has appointed Vijai Motors Pvt Ltd as its new dealer in Bangalore. GM India has seven sales points and eight service outlets in Karnataka and 108 sales points and 113 service outlets across the country. General Motors India President & Managing Director Karl Slym said, “We are indeed pleased to have another dealership in Bangalore with a showroom at Jayanagar and its workshop at KR Puram to support the ever expanding number of GM India customers in and around Bangalore.”

StanChart posts 71 pc jump in operating profits

Standard Chartered Bank on Tuesday announced a 71 per cent jump in its operating profits for 2007 to $ 690 million from $ 403 million a year earlier, led by a 60 per cent rise in revenues.

During the year under view, the Bank’s total income increased to $1.3 billion from $ 817 million a year earlier, reports DHNS from Mumbai. In addition to a robust profit growth, the India business of the Bank has also emerged as the second largest contributor to Standard Chartered Group’s global profits, with a 17 per cent share. Growth was robust across key businesses, with notable performances by Corporate Finance, Foreign Exchange, Wealth Management, SME financing and Business Installment Loans.

IDBI Bank mulls rights issue

Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) is looking at raising capital through mix of rights issue and public offer of equity shares in next fiscal, said  IDBI Chairman Yogesh Agarwal on Tuesday, reports PTI from Mumbai.

“We are in talks with the government for raising the capital through part rights issue and part through FPO in the next fiscal,” Mr Agarwal told reporters.

The bank has submitted its capital raising proposal to the government a few days back and the talks are on in this regard.

The funds will be deployed against the bank’s expansion and meet higher capital compliance under the Basel-II norms.

On dilution of government stake, which at present is 52.68 per cent, Mr Agarwal said the capital restructuring plan will ensure that the government stake is still maintained.