News Capsules

• Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has decided to shut down five out of its eight depots in Orissa including the one in Berhampur. The public sector oil company aims to rationalize its operations across the country and has decided to close the very old and small depots on grounds of safety.
• Faced with the tight prospect of meeting a $2-billion (about Rs 10,000-crore) bridge loan repayment by June, Tata Motors is currently exploring options, including an overseas bond issue, to partly repay the loan obligation, as there is a reduced appetite for a local bond issue.
• The JSW group-promoted JSW Energy is planning to invest Rs 8,000 crore to build two thermal power projects of a combined capacity of over 2,000 megawatts in Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the current fiscal year.
• Ruias-promoted Essar Steel will expand its global chain of retail brand — Steel Hypermarts — in Indonesia, Middle East, and other South Asian nations in the next three years. Essar already has two retail outlets in Indonesia. The company plans to invest Rs.300 crore to scale up its overseas presence to 40 outlets.
• Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company, posted a 20.4 per cent increase in profit in the March quarter, before a one-time charge for retirement benefits and restructuring. Net profit after the one-time provision of Rs.86 crore was, however, up 3.7 percent at Rs.395 crore in the three months ended March 31, from Rs.381 crore a year earlier.
• The country's largest steel producer, SAIL, has entered into an agreement with engineering major Siemens for upgrading technical skills of its human resource and for bringing down the maintenance cost.
• India's top mobile company Bharti Airtel has entered into a multi-million dollar deal with Manchester United, under which its 100 million subscribers would get exclusive access to the mobile content related to one of the world's richest football clubs.