Sinha to meet bank chairmen today
Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha will meet the chairmen and managing directors of the public sector banks in New Delhi today. The meeting, organised by the Indian Banks Association will discuss the voluntary retirement scheme and deliberate on the steps to be taken to reduce the non-performing assets in the banking sector.

MTNL, VSNL selloff decision on Nov 17
The Cabinet committee on disinvestment will meet on November 17. It is expected to take decisions on the privatisation of PSU giants MTNL, VSNL, MUL and IPCL. The department of disinvestment has proposed strategic sale of MTNL and of VSNL, and the setting up of a committee under the cabinet secretary to look into the issue of MUL divestment.

Pricing of standalone refineries
The government on Monday said that the issue of pricing of four standalone refineries -- Chennai Refinery, Bongaigaon Refinery, Cochin Refinery and Numaligarh Refinery -- that are to be transferred to IOC and BPCL, would be decided by January 15 and the whole process of transfer would be completed by the end of the current fiscal.

Wind-up plea against Magnasound
Koch Rajes CD Industries Ltd has filed a winding up petition against Magnasound India for an alleged non-payment amount of Rs 53 lakh. The petition was filed in August this year and is pending hearing in the Bombay high court.

Hind Motors to sell earthmoving unit
Hindustan Motors Ltd, a CK Birla group company, has signed an agreement to sell its earthmoving equipment division (HNEED) to the US-based Caterpillar Inc. The agreed sale price of HMEED is Rs 337.5 crore inclusive of net current assets which will include both the manufacturing facilities of HMEED and its engineering and education centres, according to a company statement.

Nationwide likely to be GTB partner
Global Trust Bank (GTB) is close to signing a joint venture agreement with Nationwide Insurance of the USA for life insurance business. Nationwide would hold 26 per cent equity in the venture and the balance 74 per cent would be held by GTB and its business associates, sources said.

RBI auction gets full subscription
The Reserve Bank of India's auction of the 11.03 per cent 2012 for Rs 4,000 crore held here on Monday has sailed through. The RBI accepted 167 bids for Rs 4,000 crore out of the Rs 5,635.75 crore from 200 bids at a cut-off price of Rs 97 and a YTM of 11.4976 per cent.

Govt to offload 51% of IDBI in Sidbi
The government on Monday decided to offload 51 per cent stake of IDBI in Sidbi to financial institutions and banks including Life Insurance Corporation and General Insurance (GIC). Although it hasn't been decided which bank will hold what percentage of the equity, FIs including GIC and LIC will pick up stake, IDBI chairman GB Gupta said.