COMPANIES

• Birla Tyres to bundle life cover with products — Ties up with ICICI Lombard
• Mangalam Cement told to reveal Lafarge's stake
• Pune to host new LG mfg plant
• LG investment to be feather in state govt’s cap
• Tala Project seeks $62.5-m IFC loan
• Moody’s downgrades global tobacco majors
• ChrysCap sees jackpot with TransWorks deal
• Cathay Pacific welcomes ATLA decision to allow flights to China
• Eli Lilly launches multi-pronged initiative to fight MDR-TB
• Kinetic plans homologisation for export markets
• Reliance strikes gas again, this time in MP

GENERAL

• Govt writes off debts of 7 African nations
• Cabinet approves modalities for services talks at WTO

BANKING AND FINANCE

• Banks to set their own lending targets for SSIs
• Om Kotak Mahindra premium collection jumps 400 per cent to Rs 40 crore in 2002-03
• IDBI Bank’s new product group account by August
• United Bank net rises 256 per cent to Rs 305 crore in 2002-03
• SBI Life posts 4-fold rise in premium income
• Insurance cover for rickshaw pullers in AP
• Dhanalakshmi Bank net up 49 pc
• Tata cos to merge auto finance biz
• Syndicate Bank loans for Dakshina Kannada SHGs
• i-flex solution for Brunei bank
• HSBC arm may exit debt broking
• IRDA okays Web-based training

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

• IBM rolls out database for smaller firms
• Court cooks Martha Stewart's goose
• Former DuCoa head accused of price fixing
• India to open business centre in London: Envoy
• WorldCom boss says fraud was limited: Report
• Ericsson keeps 2003 global network sales forecast

PEOPLE

• Change of guard at Nimbus, UTV