The ministry of petroleum and natural gas is reportedly considering a plan which would result in Reliance Petroleum freezing expansion of its Jamnagar refinery till March 31, 2004, when IOC's total capacity will reach 53 million tonnes. This will come about with new facilities being commissioned in Paradip and Nagapattinam apart from expansions planned for IOC's refineries in Koyali and Panipat. Reliance has thus far gone on record to state that it is commissioning a 18 million tonne refinery whose capacity could be increased to around 21 million tonnes. The fact that no expansions are sought to be done till March 31, 2004 has fuelled speculation that the deregulation process, scheduled to kick off on April 1, 2002, has could be put off by two more years.

Banthia quits as BSE vice-president: Bombay Stock Exchange vice-president Rajendra Banthia has stepped down from his post in the wake of Sebi indicting him along with 17 other brokers for havingindulged in price manipulation. The board has accepted the resignation of Banthia who will now also cease to be on the board with immediate effect. Banthia, who tendered his resignation on Monday afternoon, said that his decision had been prompted by the pending litigation between his broking outfit Harvest Deal Securities and Sebi.

Overseas investment limit raised: The union government has increased the investment limit for Indian companies abroad from $4 million to $15 million. The enhancement through the fast-track route has been provided to facilitate overseas investment in joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries. However, the special consideration for investment in South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries will continue.

Centre clears Bhatinda refinery project: The Union government on Monday cleared the nine million tonne grassroots petroleum refinery to be set up at Bhatinda in Punjab at a cost of Rs 9806 crore. The project approved by the cabinetcommittee on economic affairs would be commissioned by HPCL and Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation as a joint venture company. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the refinery later this week.

RBI report on banking trends: The Reserve Bank of India will release the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 1997-98 tomorrow. The report will contain the previous year's performance of the Indian banking sector and will have crucial ratios relating to the financial performance of commercial banks in 1997-98.

Apple Finance, Transamerica form JV: Apple Finance Ltd and Transamerica Distribution Finance Ltd have announced the formation of a joint venture in India. The joint venture activities would be carried out in Whirlpool Apple Consumer Credit Pvt Ltd, an existing venture with Whirlpool Financial Corporation. The joint venture will be renamed as Transamerica Apple Distribution Finance Ltd.

Sensex shoots up: The easing ofUS sanctions provided the much needed trigger point to the market. Coupled with speculative buying the BSE Sensex shot up by 99 points. All on a day when domestic as well as foreign institutions were net sellers. The index breached the crucial barrier of 3000 points to touch an intra-day's high of 3004.43 points, before closing a shade lower at 2,983.67 points, thus registering a net gain of 99.30 points. Reliance once again emerged as the top traded stock with over 2.8 crore shares exchanging hands on the local bourses with the stock touching an intra-day high of Rs 125.60.

Moores Rowland ties up with Mumbai CA firm: Moores Rowland International of UK, the seventh largest accounting and consultancy firm worldwide with revenues in excess of $1 billion, has entered India through a consulting joint venture with Mumbai-based Haribhakti Consulting, the consultancy arm of eminent chartered accountancy firm Haribhakti & Co.

Svedala to hike investment: Swedish capital goods major, Svedala IndustriAB, will hike its investment in India by bringing in an additional investment between $10 million to $14 million in the country. The group has already invested $4 million last year in setting up a construction equipment manufacturing unit in Bawal, Haryana through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary, Svedala India.

Microsoft not to enter vertical applications pie: Microsoft Corporation has said that it has no plans to enter the vertical applications business, particularly the ERP sector. ``We do not plan to be an ERP vendor or manufacturer,'' said Bill Jacobi, group product manager, enterprise customer unit of the US-based company.

Mysore Minerals plans restructuring: Mysore Minerals Ltd has decided to restructure its entire operations to come out of the red. The firm has drawn up a strategy which involves floating joint ventures, reducing excess flab and seeking financial assistance from the state government.