PRESS DIGEST - Indian Business News - April 23

MUMBAI, April 23 (Reuters) - Indian newspapers carried the
following stories in their print or Web editions on Thursday.
Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for
their accuracy.

ECONOMIC TIMES (www.economictimes.com)
* India's top tobacco firm, ITC Ltd , will remove
financial support to its food division unless it turns profitable
in a specified period. ITC Foods is moving out of low-margin
products to focus on building a more profitable portfolio.
* Indian Hotels Company is in talks to buy Mumbai's
Sea Rock hotel in a deal estimated at 6.5-7 billion rupees
through one of its associate companies. The transaction will be
funded through debt and internal accruals.
* State-run Indian Oil Corp could report its
first-ever annual loss in its 50-year history as a result of
selling fuels below cost when global oil prices hit a record
high. It could report a loss of 2.33 billion rupees for the year
to March 2009, according the information provided by the company
to its board and approved by directors last month.

DAILY NEWS & ANALYSIS (www.dnaindia.com)
* State-run gas transmission firm GAIL (India) Ltd
plans to lay a 1,100 kilometre pipeline, primarily to transport
gas from Reliance Industries' D6 block off the east
coast to industries in the central and northern India.

BUSINESS STANDARD (www.business-standard.com)
* Auto parts maker Amtek Auto is in advanced talks
to buy OCL Iron and Steel Ltd . The deal could value OCL
at about 3.5 billion rupees.
* Larsen & Toubro will sign co-operation agreements
with two of the largest vendors of reactors, General Electric
Hitachi and Areva , in 3-4 weeks as it prepares for its
entry into nuclear power plant construction business.

($1= 50.33 rupees)
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(Compiled by Jasudha Kirpalani, Editing by Harish Nambiar)
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