South Korean major Samsung Engineering in consortium with Linde (Germany) has pocketed $1.5 billion contract from ONGC Petro addition (OPaL) for the construction of a dual feed ethylene cracker unit and associated unit plant.
Speaking on this, Samsung Engineering spokesperson Charlotte J Lee said, “The engineering, procurement, construction & commissioning contract is for a dual feed ethylene cracker unit and associated units plant of OPaL.”
The largest public sector bank of the country, State Bank of India is planning to inject more funds in its insurance arm, SBI Life. The public sector lender had earlier decided to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO) but postponed the offer due to financial market turmoil, following the global slowdown. Some impending regulatory changes in the country also helped to delay the IPO. Meanwhile, the Central Government has already presented Insurance Bill in the Parliament to pave a way for increasing the FDI limit in insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. 
Union government is likely to review the sugar export-import targets for the financial year 2008-09 to provide sugar for the domestic consumption at reasonable prices. It can go for more import of raw and white sugar to check the sugar prices in the domestic market. The government is concerned over the reports of fall in sugar output below 20 million tonnes (mt) in the current season. Thus, it is considering all options. 
Auto makers may extend production cuts in the wake of the severity of global financial crisis and slowdown in the coming times. Both commercial and passenger vehicle segments reported decline in the month of November and auto sector growth rate may further decline as per reports. 
It has been announced by the Mahindra Ugine Steel Company that it has decided to align the company's production plans with the expected demand due to the ongoing economic slow down in the steel as well as the automotive industry and taking into account the slowdown in demand for the company's products.
On Tuesday, it was announced by Morgan Stanley's private equity unit that it had invested 1.82 billion rupees ($37.5 million) in unlisted Indian castor oil maker, Biotor Industries, with the motive to mark its first private equity investment in India. Via a statement, Chin Chou, managing director and head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia said, "We are pleased to be making our first investment in India." He further added, "The Company expects to deploy a significant amount of the Asia fund in India in the next two years."
