Hutch Essar stake

New Delhi, Nov. 7: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is scheduled to take up a proposal from the Essar group on November 10 for restructuring the foreign holdings in Hutchison Essar. The FIPB had earlier deferred the proposal where Essar had sought its permission to increase the equity held through its foreign subsidiaries by 6.26 per cent to 22.04 per cent.

Methane pact

New Delhi, Nov. 7: A consortium led by RNRL and REL with Geopetrol today signed production sharing contracts for four coal bed methane blocks, where it committed to invest at least Rs 100 crore in first of the three phases of exploration.

Bank prop

Mumbai, Nov. 7: The RBI has allowed banks to increase their lending limit to Indian joint ventures or subsidiaries for funding their overseas expansion to 20 per cent of their capital funds.

Lanco units

Calcutta, Nov. 7: Lanco Infratech will set up a 1320-mw coal-based power plant in Orissa and a 1000-mw generation unit in Jharkhand. “Construction will start as soon as we get the coal block we have applied for,” said joint managing director D.D. Rao. The company’s ongoing IPO received bids for nearly two times of the total issue size of 4.44 crore shares on the second day.

Safta hurdle

New Delhi, Nov. 7: India today asked Pakistan to remove “obstructions” and allow trade under Saarc Free Trade Arrangement (Safta).