COMPANIES

• Madras Fert hopes to record Rs 120-crore profit
• HPCL, BPCL sell-off to speed up reforms: RIL
• Essar Group inks pact with Russian co
• Jindal strips interest cost down 10 per cent on Rs 775-crore debt
• Videocon Entertainment taps foreign cos for metro plans
• A-I inducts additional Pratt & Whitney powered airplanes
• PC makers beat the blues
• Deepak Roy now trains his sights on Polychem brands
• Bajaj family may oppose Shishir's stake sale
• Int'l Flavours integrates with Bush Boake Allen
• Tata Tele plans Rs 14,000-crore investments till '05
• M&M to ramp up Scorpio output to 2,000 a month by '03
• Amul kicks off milk war in Pune with Gold and Taaza
• Jagatjit Ind scouts for partner to introduce a whisky brand
• L&T likely to take stake in Jaipur-Kishangarh project
• Bajaj to shed light on National Games stadiums
• Credit info bureau favours more investors on its board
• IOC moves up in Fortune ranking
• Madhusudan group hives off sanitaryware biz
• ONGC pact to buy stake in Nile project
• Telephoto Entertainment to merge with In House
• Eicher Motors sales up 38% in November

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

• US brokerages face $25m fine for failure to preserve e-mails
• Germany's jobless claims hit 5-year high
• Hinduja family ranked 3rd richest in Switzerland: Bilan
• Asia struggles to tackle video privacy
• Linux on desktops will hurt growth: MS

GENERAL

• Putin asks Musharraf to liquidate terror network
• No change in farm subsidies, interest rates now: Narayan
• Delhi Declaration
• Delay in projects to bleed exchequer by Rs 41,000 crore
• Sell-off fund to be set up for sick PSUs
• India to push farm cause at WTO talks

BANKING AND FINANCE

• RBI sees 50 per cent rise in value of electronic fund transfers
• Oman International gives VRS to 22 staff
• United India launches new schemes for weaker sections
• RBI auction of Rs 5,000 crore bonds to sail through
• BHFL to expand satellite offices network to 30
• Western Union seeking money transfer tie-ups
• Sundaram Finance to set up Internet kiosks
• UCO Bank cuts home loan rates
• AMP Sanmar to tap small towns in TN
• New CRR norm puts banks off-balance
• ICICI Bank plans sector-wise PLR
• United Bank bets on higher advances
• Bill to corporatise IDBI introduced
• IDBI looking for `bank' advisor
• Kotak bond limit hiked to Rs 1 crore
• Watershed development fund created in Nabard

CAPITAL MARKET

• Sensex to witness profit-booking
• Dow slips 6 points at close
• Re strengthens; gilts tumble
• Punjab Tractors sale will trigger open offer in arms
• Sundaram Mutual rules out new partner
• Bear onslaught
• CSE scam probe: Broker Singhania in custody
• Open offer hopes pep up Colgate
• Hindalco slips on LME prices - Indo Gulf takes a reverse hit
• Wipro falls 10 per cent
• Punjab PSUs harvest on divestment hopes
• SEBI to review VC funds norms
• Grasim-L&T case: Bajpai assures early decision

PEOPLE

• Andhra IAS officer in global leaders list
• Kudremukh Iron gets new CMD