Mittal to raise offer

London, April 20: Mittal Steel will increase its takeover offer of rival Arcelor to '14.1 billion from the current '12.7 billion in two weeks, chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said today. The deal is subject to approval by the EU antitrust office, he added. 'We are expecting the regulators to make it official in the next two weeks. Then we will have 35 working days for the shareholders to decide,' Mittal said.

VAT claims

New Delhi, April 20: Compensation given by the Centre to states for the revenue loss because of VAT implementation may exceed the Rs 3,000 crore earmarked for this purpose in the budget for 2006-07.

NTPC net

New Delhi, April 20: The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has reported a 1.73 per cent drop in net profit for 2005-06 at Rs 5,706.1 crore against Rs 5,807 crore in the previous fiscal. Net sales have, however, risen 15.36 per cent to Rs 25,992.8 crore from Rs 22,531.6 crore in the previous year.

SEZ status

New Delhi, April 20: The government has notified the Jamnagar special economic zone, where Reliance Industries plans to set up a $6-billion refinery, as a multi-product export hub.

Sebi move

Mumbai, April 20: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked bourses to shift about 51 firms that have established connectivity with the depositories before February 28, 2006 from the trade for trade segment to rolling settlement.