Following pressure from the National Housing Bank (NHB), housing finance companies (HFCs) may revise interest rates in the coming days. Revised interest rates for a loan of less than Rs 20 lakh are expected to be announced on January 1, 2009 by various institutional lenders.
NHB CMD, S Sridhar said, "As we have reduced the rates, we also expect HFCs to reduce rates and pass on the benefits to the end-customers. Many housing finance companies have already reduced rates by 50-75 basis points. I expect them to cut rates further."
The world's fifth largest wind turbine maker, Suzlon Energy has increased its share in its German subsidiary REpower Systems. The company currently holds 73.71 percent stake in REpower and paid around Rs 447 crore to Portugal's Martifer SGPS for acquisition. Martifer holds 22.4 per cent stake in the German company. Suzlon Energy had to acquire these stakes to complete the deal before May 2009 as per agreement with Martifer. 
Government is planning to issue grades and quality certificates to restaurants and dhabas to ensure quality of street-based food outlets. The system would be firstly introduced in Delhi and expanded to other cities of the country after noting its success. The certificate and license of outlets may be cancelled, in case of failure to maintain the quality of food. 
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications has launched nationwide GSM services from December 31. The company is already operating almost all telecom circles with its CDMA services. The company would cover 11,000 towns and 3.40 lakh villages across the country by investing Rs. 10,000-crore in the field of mobile telephony. Reliance Communications has received spectrum to roll out GSM services in January this year and has set a record to launch services within a record low period. 
Satyam Computer Services would focus on core activities to try to restore the confidence of investors. It has asked to forget the previous developments and pledges to bring transparency in the system. The board of the company would meet on January 10, 2009 to discus all possible steps to boost the stakeholder's confidence. 
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), on Wednesday, announced the nation-wide launch of Interactive Personalized Television & Video Services (IPTV) for its customers. 
