Plan to delink GIG from subsidiaries shelved

The Finance Ministry has shelved the proposal to delink the General Insurance Corporation from its four arms. Officials said that after detailed deliberations on the issue, the Ministry had come to the conclusion that splintering of the subsidiaries into independent units would not provide any distinct benefit to them, unless the Government also agreed to reduce its holding in the four companies to below 50 per cent after delinking. The proposal envisaged that the Government should take over GIC’s stake in its subsidiary companies. GIC holds the entire equity of the subsidiaries — New India Assurance Co, Oriental Insurance Co, United India Assurance Co and National Insurance Co — which stands at Rs. 40 crores each.

RIL to buy alternative feedstock at market price

Reliance Industries, co-promoters for the Assam gas cracker project, has agreed to buy alternative feedstock for the increased capacity at market prices prevailing in the North-East. This decision has been arrived at consultations with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, the nodal authority for the sector overseeing the implementation of the project. With this, if Reliance wants to increase the capacity of the ethylene cracker from the present letter of intent level of 2,00,000 tonnes, feedstock would have to be procured at prices negotiated by it.

Chennai liquor baron pitches for Childs Trust Hospital

Liquor baron Mr. N.P.V. Ramaswamy Udayar, in his capacity as the Managing Trustee of the Chennai-based Sri Ramachandra Educational and Health Trust, has made a bid to take over the 220-bed Child’s Trust Hospital located in the heart of Chennai, which is itself in a state of sickness and has run into trouble with FIs like ICICI and IDBI.