MUMBAI: L&T Infrastructure Finance is looking to raise roughly $1 billion in a private equity (PE) fund focused on investing in power, roads, ports and other projects, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, with the sector set to pick up as the new government gets cracking on improving India's creaking facilities.

The infrastructure finance arm of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro resumed the fund-raising exercise after the general election and aims to finish by next year. The money is expected to be raised from domestic and foreign institutional investors.

Infosys is focusing on strengthening its engagement with clients by deploying delivery side employees to sales, in what is to be one of the first measures being put in place by new chief executive Vishal Sikka. The country's second-largest software exporter, which seeks to regain the IT bellwether's tag, will deploy 150 executives with technical background currently working at the delivery side at Infosys's client locations, said a senior executive of the company.

The oil ministry is looking at a price of USD 6-6.5 for all domestic natural gas but wants Reliance Industries to sell KG-D6 gas at old rate of USD 4.2 till it makes up for shortfall in supplies of past four years. The ministry last week internally discussed tweaking the formula suggested by the C Rangarajan Committee to bring down the proposed increase from USD 8.4-8.8 per million British thermal unit to USD 6-6.5, a rate that will be affordable to most consumers and also incentivise exploration, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala and the two sides signed three agreements, including a Nepalese rupee (NR) 69 million grant to Nepal to supply iodated salt to curb iodine deficiency diseases.

Modi, who arrived here this morning on his maiden official visit to Nepal, met Koirala at Singha Durbar Secretariat.

Syndicate Bank has tanked 6% to Rs 136 on NSE in otherwise firm market after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested S K Jain, chairman and managing director (CMD) of the bank, for allegedly accepting bribes from private companies to extend credit facilities.

NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL suffered a loss of Rs 14,979 crore in landline services during 2013-14 whereas its net loss for the period stood at Rs 7,085 crore.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, minister of communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said loss for landline business of BSNL for 2013-14 stood at Rs 14,979 crore and net loss at Rs 7085 crore. The figures for the period are provisional and unaudited.

HDFC Pension Fund Management Co. Ltd has been ousted for a second time from the pension fund management race, prompting it to challenge the regulator in court.

On 23 July, seven pension fund managers (PFMs) got their letters of appointment, but HDFC Pension Fund was rejected.

A DAY after its unyielding stand on food security put the multilateral process at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to liberalise global trade in jeopardy, India on Friday restated its commitment to resuming efforts to build a consensus on outstanding issues by September.

“We are ready to engage on day one (when WTO reconvenes in September) with a clear understanding that our position with regard to food security and our commitment to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) is 100 per cent firm,” said a senior government official.

Japanese carmaker Honda has emerged as the third-largest carmaker in July with volumes rising 40% to 15,709 units, overtaking home grown player Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd which saw a 5% drop in monthly sales to 14,708 units.

With a market share that has more than doubled from about 3% in FY13 to almost 7% today (April-June FY15), Honda currently follows market leader Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai, who command about 44% and 17% market share respectively.

With his latest blockbuster Kick, Salman Khan is laughing his way to the bank. According to industry estimates, he has made a cool Rs 50 crore from the movie.

Notably, the Bollywood actor has de-risked his remuneration from any possible failure of the movie. Under a smart deal signed with STAR India last year, Salman Khan has sold the lucrative broadcasting rights of eight movies, in which he will be the star attraction till 2017, for a staggering Rs 450 crore.

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.