Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday announced that the capacity of the most advanced refinery at Panipat shall be expanded from 12 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes, per annum, and the expansion would be completed by November this year at a cost of Rs. 14,000 crore.
The near by naphtha cracker complex and the hydro cracker project at Haldia would also be commissioned this year.
IOC Director (Refineries), B. N. Bankapur, said that the commissioning of the naphtha cracker and the downstream polymer units at Panipat would make it an integrated refinery cum petrochemicals complex.
The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines has announced a 21 to 65% fare cut on various routes with effect from Jan 1. 
On Thursday, it was announced by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy that the recent developments in the software giant Satyam group are not going to affect major projects in the state. 
On Friday, a low-cost home computing device was launched by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Chennai-based IT solutions company Novatium, which could help the former achieve a target of 9 million broadband connections across the country in the next couple of years. 
Assets under management (AUMs) of Indian mutual funds have shown an increase of 4 per cent in December 2008. AUM had been declining since last three months according to the data released by the AMFI. The growth is caused following good performance of income funds. AUM of the mutual fund industry stands at Rs 4,18,336 crore as on December end as compared to Rs 4,02,029 crore in November 2008. 
The Union Government has relaxed the norms for external commercial borrowing (ECB) in its recently announced second economic booster package. The move would allow the integrated townships to raise funds from the international market. Integrated townships includes housing, commercial premises, hotels, resorts and city and regional level urban infrastructures. 
