CHENNAI: As part of its push into the defence sector, the $17 billion SUV-to-software conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra is in talks with British Aerospace for an alliance. Although the talks are on, "nothing has been concluded" yet, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter. M&M earlier had an alliance with British Aerospace but bought out its partner's 26% stake in their joint venture Defence Land Systems India (DLSI) in 2013.

Sources also say Mahindra is "not bidding" for a stake in Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Co Ltd.

NEW DELHI: Realty major DLF's sales bookings will cross Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal helped by better sales during this quarter in its two housing projects at Gurgaon, a senior company official said.

India's largest realty firm had earlier given the guidance that sales bookings would be in the range of Rs 3,000-3,500 crore in the current 2014-15 financial year as against Rs 4,070 crore achieved during last fiscal.

NEW DELHI: State-tun telecom company BSNL is investing an over Rs 11,000 crore to improve its all-round services including strengthening network, modernizing telephone exchanges and installing mobile towers in the naxal-dominated areas, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"BSNL and MTNL are taking several steps to enhance revenues through investments to strengthen its network and focus on consumer care and service delivery to improve quality of service," telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

NEW DELHI: The government would wait till crude prices stabilize at around $70 a barrel before selling 5% in ONGC, moving disinvestment in the country's most profitable company to the 2015-16 fiscal starting April 1. Government sources on Wednesday said the "time was not ripe" for offloading stake in refiner-marketer IndianOil, though the matter was "in discussion" within the government.

The ONGC selloff was initially supposed to have happened in November 2014 and was estimated to fetch some Rs 14,000 crore. But falling crude prices changed the valuation template and took a toll on the company's financial health.

MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 228 points in early trade on Wednesday amid a firming global trend and hopes of a growth-oriented Budget.

Further, covering-up of short positions by speculators ahead of Thursday's monthly expiry in the derivatives segment, supported the upside.

The government plans to set up an expert panel to find ways to improve Air India’s performance but presently no proposal is being considered for its privatisation, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati said today.

“Setting up of an expert committee to suggest ways to further improve the performance of Air India is under consideration,” he said.

Back in 2009, U K Sinha, the then UTI chief (currently Sebi chairman) told Business Standard that the regulator needs to be open to criticism. The comment had come in the backdrop of Sinha's predecessor C B Bhave's decision of banning entry load on equity schemes.

The move had attracted widespread criticism from all stakeholders - including AMCs and distributors. And that phase lasted for not less than four long years. Even today, it is not surprising to see people wishing for a return of entry load, though in hushed tones.

US-based private equity firm Carlyle group beat off stiff competition to acquire a 49% stake in PNB Housing Finance from Destimoney Enterprise Pvt Ltd.

PNB Housing Finance is the mortgage finance arm of one of India’s largest public sector lenders, Punjab National Bank, which owns 51%, and is the fourth largest housing finance company in the country.

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday suspended ONGC board member Shashi Shankar on charges of alleged irregularities in processing a yet-to-be-awarded tender of 2011 for procuring equipment worth about $4 million, or roughly Rs 23 crore at current exchange rate.

This is the first instance of a member of the board being suspended since ONGC became a corporation in 1994. In 1992, when it was a government commission, M C Nawlakha, who was then the member (finance), was suspended. He retired in 1993.

Mumbai: India’s benchmark Sensex was trading over 230 points higher, led by shares of energy, banking and information technology companies.

The government will announce the railway budget on 26 February and the national budget on 28 February. Investors will look for the direction of government policy through these two announcements and will keep an eye on annual economic outlook survey on 27 February. Investors are also cautious ahead of future and option expiry on 26 February.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.