The Hindu Business Line : Weekly News Round up

In a major success for India's nuclear ambitions, the Nuclear Suppliers Group on Saturday granted it a crucial waiver that will enable it to carry out nuclear commerce, ending 34 years of isolation enforced in the wake of the 1974 Pokharan nuclear tests.

The Indo-US nuclear deal will now go to the US Congress for approval.

Austria, along with Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland had expressed strong reservations over the waiver being given to India.

Tata Power has announced that it will acquire a 11.4 per cent stake in Geodynamics Ltd, an Australian company specialising in geothermal energy, for Rs 165 crore. It will acquire 29.4 million shares of Geodynamics at an issue price of Australian $1.50 or about Rs 56.25. As a part of the investment, Tata Power will also get a directorship on the board of Geodynamics.

The Centre's net direct tax collections in August 2008 stood at Rs 12,761 crore, marginally higher than the Rs 12,274 crore collected in the same month last year, showing a growth of about four per cent. The Centre's direct tax revenues in the first five months of the current fiscal, however, showed buoyancy at a hefty growth of about 38 per cent. Official data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes showed net collections during April-August 2008 at Rs 84,409 crore, up 38.31 per cent from Rs 61,030 crore in the same period last year.

Sun Pharmaceutical has extended the closing date on its open offer for Taro's shares by a month, to October 3. The development follows Taro Pharmaceutical's appeal to the Supreme Court against an earlier decision by the Tel-Aviv District Court that had gone in favour of Sun Pharma.

The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.34 per cent during the week ended August 23, marginally below the previous week's rise of 12.40 per cent due to lower prices of mainly food products. The annual rate of inflation was recorded at 3.94 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.

Tata Motors last Tuesday said it will issue shares on a rights basis at Rs 305 for a share, as part of the Rs4,200-crore rights issue. The price fixed for the ordinary shares at Rs 340 a share is at a discount of about 20 per cent from the closing price of Rs 419.95 of the company's shares on the BSE on Friday. The rights issue is to part finance the bridge loan the company had taken for the $2.3-billion acquisition of the iconic Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co.

Dr Duvvuri Subbarao has replaced Dr Y. V. Reddy as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. A 1972 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Dr Subbarao, who had been serving as finance secretary before this, is the 22nd Governor of the country's central bank for a term of three years.

The International Chamber of Commerce in its final arbitration award has directed Tata Communication to pay $19.29 million (Rs 84.87 crore) plus interest from May 2006 as damages to Reliance Communications in the dispute regarding denial to Reliance Globalcom (formerly FLAG), access to cable landing station in Mumbai. The interest amount will be around $2 million, making the total amount to be paid by TataCommunication to $21.42 million.

Buoyed by the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, India's exports continue to be bullish with exports in July logging a 31.2 per cent growth at $16.34 billion, against $12.45 billion in the corresponding period last year. In rupee terms, exports in July grew by 39.1 per cent at Rs70,018 crore, against Rs 50,331 crore in July 2007.

Compiled and Podcast by M J Madhavan