News Capsules

• Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, one of the largest nuclear power plant vendors in the world, for the construction of nuclear power plants in India.
• BHEL has offered to take up the controversial Barh project of NTPC if the Russian firm that had bagged the order for it and the power major end their arbitration case and part ways.
• Grasim Industries, part of the Aditya Birla group, has posted a decline of 16.2 per cent in its consolidated net profit for the financial year ended March 31, at Rs 2,187 crore, compared with Rs 2,609 crore in the previous financial year. Net revenue for the year grew to Rs 18,603 crore from Rs 17,141 crore last year, up 8.5 per cent.
• Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), the second largest drug maker in the country, would invest about Rs 750 crore ($150 million) in setting up two special economic zones (SEZs) — one in Visakhapatnam and another in Hyderabad.
• JSW Steel said it planned to shut down its mills in the US for three months from June due to poor demand, and in the interim it will take measures to upgrade and modernise the units.
• Unitech are looking to raise their stake by about 10 per cent in the company by subscribing to warrants worth about Rs 1,000 crore over the next 18 months.
• Geodesic has acquired South America-based software firm Interactive Networks for an undisclosed sum. With this deal, Interactive Networks has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geodesic.
• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India intends to pump in around Rs 1,05,000 crore into non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and equity in the current financial year, nearly 20 per cent more than the Rs 88,000 crore it invested in these instruments in 2008-09.
• Thermax Ltd a rise of 17.15 per cent in net profit to Rs 94.33 crore during the January-March quarter of the recently concluded financial year against Rs 80.52 crore posted over the same period a year ago. The company revenues during the quarter grew marginally to Rs 948.25 crore, up 2.83 per cent over Rs 922.11 crore on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis
• Essar Oil posted a net profit of Rs 660 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009, against a net loss of Rs 8 crore during the same quarter in 2008. The company’s profit surged after its refinery at Vadinar in Jamnagar began operating at full capacity from May 2008.