In a season of bad news, the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE) has sprung a pleasant surprise. In its latest data, the research body has said projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore were completed in FY12, the highest in the last few years. In the previous couple of years, the corresponding numbers were Rs 3.4 lakh crore and Rs 3.8 lakh crore, respectively.

Project completion highest in years, pipeline robust

Business Standard

Tata Communications, which has been spending as much as $450 million (Rs 2,232 crore) annually in capital expenditure for the last five years, will now reduce it by around half.

WEB Excl: Tata Comm to cut down capex by half

New operators might be on the dock after Supreme Court cancelled their licences. But that is not stopping them from fighting to win more subscribers.

Scam-hit telcos fight back for subscribers

After months of negotiations, Anil Ambani's plan to sell his tower business has reached the final lap. Private equity giants Blackstone and Carlyle Group have signed a term sheet to buy up to 95 per cent stake in Reliance Infratel. The term sheet was signed a few weeks ago.

Blackstone, Carlyle close in on Anil Ambani's tower biz

Full-page ads scream &lsquo;Global&rsquo;, &lsquo;India&rsquo; and &lsquo;Adani&rsquo;, waking up the morning reader to a brand new group. The Rs 33,000-crore, Ahmedabad-based Adani conglomerate is in the throes of a makeover aimed at transforming it into an Indian multinational that has operations across the globe.

Will the Adani makeover work? 

After talks with Changi Airport failed to sell 26 per cent in its airport business, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd is in discussions with a few private equity players in an effort to dilute stake in GVK Airport Holdings.

GVK plans to raise Rs 3,500 cr from airport biz stake sale

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) yesterday set up a committee to select the agency to conduct the e-auction of 2G spectrum.

DoT to select 2G auctioneer in July

Some major public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been able to substantially reduce their employee costs. According to data compiled by BS Research Bureau for BSE 100 companies, seven public sector companies &mdash; Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bank of India, Union Bank, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and GAIL &mdash; have reduced their employee costs ranging from one per cent to 21 per cent.

Major PSUs able to reduce staff cost

Tata Power plunged into a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore for the year ended March 2012. The company is battered by the huge provision for the 4,000-Mw Mundra power project. Anil Sardana, managing director of India&rsquo;s largest private power producer, says though the tariff freeze by some states is causing tremendous stress, the company will go ahead with the expansion of the Mundra project.

It's an unfair, almost subprime-like situation: Anil Sardan

The infrastructure sector, considered the most attractive private equity investment destination, is going through a crisis in fund raising and investments. Though nine infra-focused funds were launched in India with a plan to raise about Rs 20,000 crore during 2009-2012, they have managed to raise only Rs 7,800 crore due to the uncertainties looming over the sector.

Bumpy road ahead for infrastructure fundsn

Malaysia&rsquo;s leading telecom operator, Axiata, has backed out of its negotiations to pick up a substantial stake in broadband wireless access (BWA) operator Tikona Digital due to differences over valuation and uncertainty on the Indian telecom policy, following the cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court.

Axiata logs out of talks to buy stake in Tikona Digital

One of the pet projects of Mulayam Singh as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, five years earlier, was the 7,480-Mw Dadri power project. It was also Reliance Power promoter Anil Ambani's dream project, but for some time now, the project has fallen off the radar of the developer.

New policy regime limits R-Power's gains in Uttar Pradesh

Age may not be at his side, but at 70, A M Naik has no plans to call it a day. On a day Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid decided to hangup his boots, Naik's innings at Larsen &amp; Toubro (L&amp;T) got extended by another five years, as executive chairman of the company.

Naik's next mission: Younger L&T

Vodafone says it has the widest presence of exclusive retail in the country, serving over a million walk-ins.

Zoozoos sweat it out in rural sun

A few hours ahead of a crucial meeting of power sector leaders with the Prime Minister, the union power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde said that they have to take sympathetic look at the demands of the sector.

Katya Naidu