Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (01/05/08)

1. Essar Steel Holdings is set to buyout US-based steel maker Esmark for about US$669 million.
Reliance Industries (RIL) picks up 90% of Block-141 in Peru from Pan Andean Resources, a south-America-focused oil and gas explorer.
2. Reliance Communications on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs.5401 Cr for the year ended March 31, up by 70.8%.
3. The Bombay Stock Exchange, sensex fell marginally by 91 points to 17,287. In bullion market, the gold closed at Rs.11,400/10gm and silver at Rs.22715/kg.
4. Thanks to high global crude oil prices, Indian oil companies have hiked the price of jet fuel by about 10%.
5. The Finance Minister announces measures to make cement, steel cheaper, and RBI chief hikes CRR by 0.25% to 8.25% to suck out over Rs.9000 Cr liquidity.
6. Lok Sabha passes the Finance Bill 2008-09. The Bill will now go to Rajya Sabha for consideration and then on to the President of India for her assent.
7. India’s fast growing Aviation Industry will need an estimated 6,000 more pilots in the next 5 years.