BSE Sensex falls 140 points, Nifty sheds 37 pts in early trade on profit-booking

* US private equity firm TPG Capital is to sell part of its stake in Indian commercial vehicle financier Shriram Transport Finance Co Ltd to raise about $300 million, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

* The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in a draft report that there were serious irregularities, flouting of government norms and undue financial benefits to the private player in the Delhi airport Metro link.

ENERGY/COMMODITIES

* State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp, along with Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mitsui Group of Japan, will invest about $1 billion (approximately 54 billion rupees) to set up a five-million tonne (mt) liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) in Mangalore.

* The newly constituted cabinet committee on investment (CCI) granted its first big-ticket approval, clearing the 120 billion rupees North Karanpura power project of NTPC that had been stranded for more than a decade as power and coal ministries bickered over its location.

* Oil and Natural Gas Corp's over 80 billion rupees development of western offshore B-193 cluster fields will be completed this year that will add 28,000 barrels per day to peak oil production.

INFRASTRUCTURE

* Jaiprakash Power Venture raised 9.5 billion rupees in the largest primary issue in the power sector in nearly three years through a qualified institutional placement of shares.

* The Ruia family, promoters of Essar Ports and Essar Shipping, is planning to start offloading their stake in the respective companies in order to comply with the requirement of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) requirement of maximum 75 percent holding in companies, senior company officials told Financial Chronicle.

AVIATION

* The war over air fares intensified with all Indian airlines competing with each other to offer low ticket prices, as Air India also jumped into the fray.

... contd.

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