Sonia, PM talk oil price

New Delhi, June 1: The proposed hike in fuel prices and its fallout on Congress’s prospects in the coming polls, as also Left parties’ suggestion for a duty rejig to help loss-making oil companies, came up for discussion at a meeting of the Congress top brass today. The meeting, attended by Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, deliberated on the options available to the government to tackle the issue of a hike in the prices of petroleum products in the wake of soaring international crude prices.

Govt stake

Chennai, June 1: The government would not dilute its 51 per cent stake in public sector banks, finance minister P. Chidambaram said today. “The public sector banks will remain as public sector banks and the government’s equity will never go below 51 per cent level,” he said.

Suzlon unit

Calcutta, June 1:Wind energy major Suzlon group will begin generating power from a Rs 500-crore project in Bengal from the 2009-10 fiscal. “We aim to begin generating power and put in the grid from 2009,” said P.M. Rao, general manager (marketing) of Suzlon Infrastructure Services.

Tesco move

London, June 1: Tesco Plc has agreed to buy out the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake in a joint personal finance venture. The deal is estimated at nearly $2 billion. Britain’s second largest bank had put its insurance operations, which include the Tesco joint venture, on the block in April as part of its efforts to bolster its balance sheet.

PSU staff

Mumbai, June 1: Around 50 Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd engineers, including the site director of the Kaiga plant in Karnataka and 16 others from the newly built 540MW plant at Tarapur, have resigned in the last five months. Sources cited “discouraging” recommendations in the Sixth Pay Commission and lucrative offers available outside as reasons for the exit.

Rail freight

New Delhi, June 1: The commerce ministry has informed the finance ministry that the Railways added to the inflation woe by raising freight charges.

Dabur plan

New Delhi, June 1: fmcg major Dabur is planning global acquisitions this fiscal year and has identified 20 target companies.

Oil subsidy

New Delhi, June 1: The country’s oil subsidy may increase three times to 2.2 per cent of the gdp this year. India paid $8.7 billion in oil subsidies in 2007, or 0.7 per cent of the gdp.

InBev buy

London, June 1: Belgium’s InBev is close to securing a $50-billion financing package to enable it to launch a takeover bid for AnheuserBusch Cos Inc, maker of Budweiser beer, the Sunday Telegraph reported.