OIL bid to pick 10% stake in Numaligarh plan blocked
The government nominees on the board of Oil India Ltd (OIL) stalled a resolution which would have allowed the exploration major to pick up a 10% stake in the three-million-tonne per annum, Rs 2,734-crore Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL).

Sinha eats humble pie, says fiscal deficit may hurtle past 5.6%
Finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Thursday admitted that the current year's fiscal-deficit target of 5.6 per cent was under pressure, but said it will not cross 7% under any circumstances.

Lever giftwraps VRS for Lakme Deonar staff
The new Hindustan Lever Ltd management at Lakme's Deonar factory in Mumbai has verbally cited unviability of the unit and declared a group incentive scheme to elicit a universal response to a voluntary retirement scheme.

CORPORATE
Thermax, Bayer forge alliance
Preferential issue vaults ITC stake in Bhadrachalam Paperboards to 51%

ECONOMY
NGOs call for farmers to join alternative body
Textile exports see 3.5% decline

EXPRESSIONS
Warning in gold
Changing times sound deathknell for Opec

MARKETS
Smaller exchanges rush to demat for fear of bad paper
Spin-off news drives Telco scrip up 6% in a flat market

LEISURE
HTA-Direct's shopfest plan sputters for lack of sponsors
JK Ansell to unveil supplementary products to enhance brand image