Bank strikes to cripple industry: The banking industry is likely to be paralysed by a spate of strikes over the next one month. There will be a strike on December 11 to be followed up by yet another strike on January 12. While the December 11 strike is an expression of solidarity with the unions-called industrial bandh, the January 12 strike will be a protest against IBA's offer of a 8 per cent wage hike.

Dabhol signs pact with Oman LNG: Dabhol Power Company on Tuesday signed a deal with Oman LNG for buying 1.6 million tonne per annum of liquified natural gas for 20 years. The sale andpurchase agreement was signed in Oman by the Oman LNG general manager Tony Hanna and Enron managing director Sanjay Bhatnagar.

I-T raid on Sun Pharma yields Rs 12 crore: Raids on Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd have yielded around Rs 12 crore to the income-tax department. The investigation wing of the department, which raided 34 premises in a nation-wide operation on Monday, have confiscated evidence showing false claims of around Rs 10 crore availed by the company under section 80IA of the Income-Tax Act.

IPCL building patents reservoir: IPCL is building a huge reservoir of patents for cost and technology advantages. Armed already with 38 patents, including 11 overseas ones, the company is going ahead with further applications and a slew of international patents are awaiting approval in addition to the ones already received.

Denso to set up subsidiary: Denso Corporation of Japan, the world's largest supplier of essential components and systems for automobiles, has decided to setup a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary for trading business. The subsidiary will also support and co-ordinate with its affiliate Indian companies. Denso submitted a proposal to the FIPB about two weeks ago for setting up the subsidiary which will initially have a capital base of Rs 7 crore.

TCS to offer decision support solutions: TCS, a leading transnational information technology and business consultant, will offer decision support solutions in the domestic market for sustainable competitive advantage. TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai said on Tuesday that these solutions have become critical to most businesses especially in increasingly competitive markets.

Petronet plans outfit for LNG transit: Petronet LNG, the consortium lead by BPCL, IOC, ONGC and Gail, is planning to float a separate shipping outfit for transportation of LNG. Sources in Petronet LNG confirmed that talks are on with various shipping companies including SCI for floating the new entity.

Oil India appoints Icra toevaluate Numaligarh plan: Oil India has commissioned credit rating agency, Icra, to examine the feasibility of picking a stake in the three million tonne Numaligarh Refinery scheduled to be operational early next year. Industry sources said that Icra would also evaluate Oil India's role in the overall downstream sector.

Leela group drops five-star hotel plan: Hotel Leelaventure has dropped its plan to develop the 450-room five-star super-deluxe hotel, Leela Palace, adjacent to the Leela Kempinski at Andheri in Mumbai. Under the altered plan, the group will build an additional 150 super-deluxe garden villas adjacent to Leela Kempinski. This will be ready by June 1999.

MSEB stand on power-tariff hike: MSEB and local industrial units are at loggerheads over the power tariff issue. While industrial organisations are demanding withdrawal of the tariff hike, MSEB believes that under no circumstances it can concede to such a demand.

FIIs turn net sellers on stock markets: FIIs were netsellers in the equity markets during the week-ended December 4, with gross sales exceeding purchases by Rs 46.9 crore or $11.1 million. Net FII investments in the debt market were also negative at $ six million. During November 1998, net FII investments were negative to the extent of $47.2 million reducing cumulative net investment to $8,600.7 million. During the week-ended December 8, cumulative net investments by FIIs further reduced to $8,583.6 million, SEBI said in a statement in Mumbai on Tuesday.

S&P assigns BB rating to four banks: Standard & Poor's has assigned BB ratings to BoI, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Central Bank of India. All the four banks will be challenged to maintain profitability and asset quality at current levels, given a weaker economic environment and the implementation of more stringent prudential standards, an S&P release said on Tuesday.

Swiss Re sets up office: Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has set up office in India ahead of the opening up ofinsurance sector. Swiss Re is the first international reinsurance company to open office in India. Speaking to newspersons here on Wednesday, Swiss Re chief executive Walter B Kielholz denied that his setting up office now has any direct link to the current flurry of activity in the insurance sector.

BoI to rework working capital credit period: BoI has decided to rework existing credit period on working capital finance on requests from its corporate clients to help them tide over the economic slowdown. The move, apart from easing cash-flow management by the recession-hit and inventory-laden corporates, will also help BoI reduce the size of its NPAs.

Banks to face rounding-off euro problems: The transition phase between December-end 2000 and 2001 presents banks with a myriad set of problems: Rounding off; settlement of deals in the export earners forex accounts; nostro-accounts; and upgrading software to receiveand make payments in legacy currencies and the euro.