• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put a question mark on the mega bond issue of Essar Teleholdings, a firm owned by the Ruias of Essar Group. • Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will start production from its Chakan plant near Pune, by this month end.

• Eyeing to grow big in the domestic banking space, Corporation Bank has launched its loan syndication business and plans to foray into the general insurance space in the next six months. • In a bid to grab market share, Axis Bank has dropped its home loan rates to 8% for the first year. The announcement came within days of the central bank signalling tighter monetary conditions going ahead.

• The Supreme Court has begun a fresh set of hearings in the legal dispute between the Ambani brothers over gas supply from the KG basin. • Indian Oil Corp (IOC) expects to double investments on its Research and Development incentives in order to develop newer technologies.

• Vedanta Resources Plc said it saw early signs of global recovery as it posted a 44 per cent fall in first-half earnings per share due to weaker metals prices. EPS for the six months to end September fell to 68.5 cents from 121.4 cents last year, beating the consensus forecast of 57 cents from eight analysts polled by the company.

• 3i Infotech will focus on debt management and cost reduction during the current fiscal. It would implement measures such as offshoring and 4-day work week for its US employees to cut costs. • The long pending proposal of the civil aviation ministry, seeking 25% equity investment by foreign airlines in Indian carriers, is scheduled to come up before a high-powered committee on November 17.

• Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) may well be out of the race to buy Ahstralia's Rocklands Richfield Ltd after Chinese coal producer Meijin Energy topped its bid. • Reliance Communications' (RCom) subsidiary Reliance Webstore Ltd is eyeing a 20% rise in its handset sales for FY2010 at Rs600 crore over the last fiscal even as it is looking to sell iPhones in the country.

• Mjunction services, the 50:50 joint venture between Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Tata Steel, is readying a war chest to acquire an overseas company in the procurement space by 2010-11. The company has set a target of reaching a transaction value of Rs 50,000 crore by fiscal 2012-13.

• Premier Explosives Ltd (PEL) is mulling options of entering the renewable energy areas of solar and wind. • Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s next offering in the market will be a 110cc motorcycle that will debut during this fiscal. • Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd has mandated SBI Capital Markets Ltd to raise Rs 5,000 crore for its refinery expansion and petrochemical projects,

• Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) plans to raise $250 million to fund its expansion plans. • Punjab National Bank (PNB) said that it has decided to slash interest rates on retail term deposits by 25 to 50 basis points in some selected buckets.

• Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) has reduced interest rates on home loan under `Apna Ghar Scheme` with effect from Nov. 09, 2009. • GVK Power and Infrastructure board has approved the acquisition of 40.6 million shares being 12% of paid up equity share capital of Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) at a total cost of Rs 4.84 billion from Flughafen Zuerich AG through GVK Airport Developers (P). GVK to get 1 board seat on BIAL

• As per reports, National Aluminium Company is looking for Uranium mines in Namibia. • MphasiS board will meet on November 24 on merger of 100% subsidiary MphasiS FinSolutions with itself. • Kajaria Ceramics has inked fuel supply pact with Gas Authority of India Ltd. The pact is expected to save Rs 15 crore annually.

• Intel in talks with ITI for WiMax Joint Venture. ITI will be the minority shareholder with 26% stake. • Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is planning to regulate and fix termination charges on SMS calls being sent from one operator to another

• Apollo Hospitals wants to add 10 hospitals a year for providing services to the population at the bottom of the pyramid. The aim is to reach out to a billion people in a decade

• Powering its way ahead in tapping renewable energy sources for power generation, NTPC has set the ball rolling for its two solar thermal units of 50 Mw each in Gujarat. The company has firmed up its plans to initially install a solar power generation capacity of 100 Mw in the state, which may go up to 300 Mw at a later stage.

• Patni Computer Systems clarified that the news, `L&T Info in talks to buy Patni`, appearing in the media appears to be speculative in nature and it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the transaction contemplated in the said article.