1,000 villages to get Rs.100 crore

October 3rd, 2009 CHENNAI - City-based Repco Infrastructure Development Co is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to develop vacant land on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. "We are discussing various BOT projects with the Tamil Nadu government, the total value of which is around Rs.100 crore," M.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Solar energy-powered electrical lighting systems came online Friday in about 3,900 households in 27 remote villages of Gurez tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the government's Remote Village Electrification (RVE) Programme. Dedicating the project to about 30,000 people living in these villages, New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said projects have been sanctioned for extending basic lighting facility to 145 of the 284 un-electrified villages and 28 hamlets in the state.

July 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said that the government will provide Rs 1,000-crore subsidy on diesel to paddy farmers for irrigation during the on-going Kharif season in order to provide relief to growers in times of erratic monsoon. "One major decision which the government has taken in yesterday's Cabinet meeting is to extend a budgetary provision of Rs 1,000 crore for the support of the (paddy) farmers who are using diesel pumps," Pawar said on Friday.

July 31st, 2009 MUMBAI - State-run National Aluminium Co (NALCO) reported a 75 percent fall in net profit to Rs.126.4 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as compared to Rs.525.3 crore in the like period last year. The total income decreased 34 percent to Rs.1,036.5 crore from Rs.1,593.7 crore, the company said in a regulatory statement.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reliance Power has posted a net profit of Rs.100.56 crore ($21 million) for the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs.59.7 crore reported in the like period last year. The total income has increased to Rs.144.24 crore from Rs.77.67 crore, the company said in a statement.

July 27th, 2009 SHIMLA - The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs.135 crore to the Himachal Pradesh government for developing rural infrastructure, an official statement said Monday. "Nabard has sanctioned Rs.135 crore to Himachal Pradesh for the year 2009-10.

July 25th, 2009 MUMBAI - State-run gas utility company GAIL India Saturday reported a 26.8 percent dip in its net profit at Rs.655.8 crore ($135.5 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared to Rs.896.8 crore in the same period last fiscal. However, the total income increased 4.3 percent to Rs.6,101.3 crore from Rs.5,845.5 crore, the company said in a regulatory statement.

July 25th, 2009 CHENNAI - City-based engineering and infrastructure firm BGR Energy Systems has posted a net profit of Rs.20.23 crore for the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs.17.23 crore reported in the like period last year, a growth of 17 percent. The company's turnover during the period stood at Rs.311 crore as compared to Rs.306 crore in the April-June quarter last fiscal, BGR said in a statement.

July 14th, 2009 MUMBAI - The country's second largest private lender HDFC Bank Tuesday said its net profit increased by about 31 percent to Rs.606 crore (Rs.6.06 billion/$123.4 million) in the first quarter this fiscal, compared to Rs.464.35 crore in the year-ago period. The bank's net income for the period under review grew 21.86 percent to Rs.5,136.75 crore from Rs.4,215.15 crore.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has allocated a whopping Rs.39,100 crore for the Congress-led government's flagship scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), a hefty 144 percent hike over the previous budget estimates. Reiterating the government's commitment to the scheme that promises 100 days of employment to rural youth, the finance minister said in his budget speech Monday that 4.47 crore households were covered under NREGA last year as against 3.39 crore earlier.

June 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Realty major Unitech's net profit dipped 28 percent to about Rs.740 crore for 2008-09 from nearly Rs.1,031 crore posted the previous year, the company said Thursday. Its total income in the year under review decreased to Rs.2,455 crore from Rs.2,970 crore earned in 2007-08, it said in a regulatory statement.

June 2nd, 2009 MUMBAI - State-run oil refining and marketing major Hindustan Petroleum Co Ltd (HPCL) Tuesday reported 44.5 percent fall in consolidated net profit for 2008-09 at Rs.757.32 crore, down from Rs.1,364.1 crore recorded the year before. However, the overall turnover during the period marked an increase of 16.5 percent at Rs.129,978.82 crore, comparing to Rs.111,603.58 crore in 2007-08.

May 22nd, 2009 MUMBAI - Tobacco, FMCG and hospitality major ITC saw its net profit for 2008-09 increase 4.6 percent to about Rs.3,264 crore from Rs.3,120 crore earned the previous fiscal. The company's turnover similarly registered a 10.5 percent growth during the year to Rs.16,844 crore from Rs.15,245.3 crore in 2007-08, it said in a regulatory statement Friday.

April 25th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Banks in Kerala have posted a marginal growth of 6.3 percent in advances from Rs.80,131 crore in June 2008 to Rs.85,174 crore as on Dec 31, according to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC). The SLBC in a meeting here said loans given to the education sector reported the biggest jump when it went up from Rs.2,920 crore in June to Rs.4,049 crore in December.

January 22nd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The Planning Commission has agreed to allocate an outlay of Rs.100 billion (Rs.10,000 crore) to Haryana for 2009-10, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Friday. The outlay is over 50 percent more than the total outlay of Rs.66.5 billion (Rs.6,650 crore) approved for the state last fiscal.