Mumbai, Mar 2 : The board of directors of Reliance Industries headed by Mukesh Ambani on Monday agreed to merge with its refinery subsidiary, the Reliance Petroleum Ltd. (RPL).

Both the companies, in their respective filings, agreed on one equity share for the RPL shareholders and 16 for the RIL shareholders.

This development has resulted in formation of one of the largest refineries in the world.

State-run fuel retailers on Saturday slashed jet fuel or ATF rates by a further 7 per cent.

The latest cut is the eleventh reduction in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) since September 2008, helping prices slide by about 61% since August last.

It should be noted that ATF prices peaked to Rs 71,028.26 per kilolitre in Delhi in August 2008 when international crude prices touched $147 a barrel. ATF makes up nearly
40% of airlines' operating costs.

The banking institutions should give relief to borrowers and forward the complete benefit of the repo rates cuts carried out by the central bank (RBI) thus far.

In a gathering with some bank heads today, Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, demanded banks to guarantee that customers are not put to any problem.

Mr. S.K. Goel, Chairman and Managing Director, UCO Bank, who attended the meeting, said that the conference did not talk about more cuts in key interest rates including CRR or SLR, but was called for a general economy appraisal.

Tata says the car will be launched on March 23; but the company’s A’bad dealers aren’t in the loop

With Tata Motors on Thursday announcing that it will formally launch the Nano on March 23, there is much excitement among prospective buyers who have been waiting for the car for long. Car dealers in the city said that they expect to be flooded with enquiries for booking from Friday.

The MNC R&D centres in India are caught in the downturn spiral. The growth of India’s R&D offshoring sector, valued at $10 billion at last count, is projected to taper down in 2009 to 14% from 21% last year, according to a study by HR and offshoring advisory firm Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt.Ltd.

The sobering prediction for product R&D firms comes in the wake of decisions to set up new captive R&D centres being deferred as upfront capital investment has dried up considerably, said Chandramouli CS, director at the consultancy which provides advisory services to MNCs wanting to set up offshoring operations in India and elsewhere.

Size of jewellery market in India is expected to double in next six years. According to a recent assessment by Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham), current size of the market is estimated to be around $15 billion, which is likely to touch $30 billion by 2015 driven by demand for gold and diamond jewellery. Worldwide market for gems and jewellery industry is believed to be more than $150 billion.