INDIA. Telecoms ministry not to take any coercive action over an order to ban 3G roaming

Telecom stocks may see action on reports that a telecoms tribunal on Saturday (24 December 2011) asked the telecoms ministry not to take any coercive action over an order to ban 3G roaming until the next hearing, after firms appealed against the government order. According to reports, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has set the next date for hearing the case on 3 January 2011. Firms including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone’s Indian unit and Idea Cellular, three of India’s top four carriers, had challenged the telecoms ministry order on Friday (23 December 2011), asking the firms to comply with it within 24 hours.

IRB Infrastructure Developers said its concession agreement for a road project in Goa state has been terminated due to inability of the top nodal agency for highways to provide land. For implementing the project, IRB had formed a special purpose vehicle, IRB Goa Tollway, which will claim compensation from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), it added.

Shares of tea companies could be in focus on reports tea prices in India rose more than 2% at the auction held during 20-22 December 2011, as the leaf offered was good quality, which helped demand. According to reports, price of CTC (crush-tear-curl) tea stood at Rs. 122.87 per kilogram (kg), up 2.19% from Rs. 120.23 at the previous weekly auction. Dust tea price gained 2.97% to Rs. 118.26 per kg.

UK telecom major BT Group Plc has reportedly put plans to sell its stake in Tech Mahindra on hold ahead of the IT firm’s merger with Mahindra Satyam. BT Group, which is both a customer and stakeholder of Tech Mahindra, does not plan to sell its stake at least till both entities are amalgamated, reports added. Report suggested that the UK telecom company’s stake will come down to about 12-15% following the merger as compared to the 23% plus it currently holds in Tech Mahindra.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) will be watched on reports the oil ministry plans to impose cost limits on the development of new KG Basin gas fields by RIL, and has deferred its decision on the critical issue of allowing the company to fully recover previous costs.

Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has reportedly settled its patent case with New York-headquartered Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Paris-headquartered Sanofi over Plavix, a drug used to inhibit blood clots in coronary artery disease.

Shoppers Stop has opened one HomeStop store at R City Mall, Ghatkopar, Mumbai. With this, the company now has ten HomeStop stores under its operation.

The board of Areva T&D India passed the resolution for changing the company’s name to Alstom T&D India. The company will hold an extraordinary general meeting on 23 January 2012.

The board of Themis Medicare has approved the proposal for accepting fresh public deposits by the company.