Economy

- India will likely grow by a robust 7.8 percent this year and 7.9 percent in the next two years on the back of stronger domestic policy reforms, the World Bank forecast, even as it cut its global economic growth forecast for 2016, citing weak growth among emerging markets.

- The Indian Cabinet approved conversion of MUDRA Ltd, an NBFC, into MUDRA Bank and also setting up of a Credit Guarantee Fund for loans disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Yojana.

Pharmaceutical

- Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA has been granted tentative approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration for its Dronedarone Tablets, 400 mg, the generic version of Multaq Tablets, 400 mg of Sanofi- Aventis U.S., LLC.

- Lupin has launched its Tri-Lo-Marzia tablets, an oral contraceptive drug, in the US market after getting approval from the American health regulator. The company's US subsidiary Lupin Pharmaceutical Inc has launched Tri- Lo-Marzia tablets after receiving approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

- Cipla has inked a pact with US-based BioQ Pharma for registration and commercialisation of latter's Ropivacaine infusion system, used in treating post-operative pain, in India.

Realty/ Construction

- NBCC has bagged orders worth `8,523 crore in the month gone by. The company was awarded `8195 crore worth of orders for project management consultancy (PMC) during December. It also managed to fetch engineering procurement and construction (EPC) orders worth `328 crore.

- National Buildings Construction Corporation announced that Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi has awarded the work of construction of Academic Building, Guest House, Gymnasium, Hospital and Auditorium at IIT Mandi Campus for `294.78 crore.

- Punj Lloyd has won four highway projects worth `1,555 crore in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Punjab from the central government. The engineering, procurement and construction projects in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been awarded to Punj Lloyd by the National Highways Authority of India while the order in Punjab has been won from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH).

- IRB Infrastructure Developers has bagged a `10,050-crore order to construct the Zozila pass tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir. It is the biggest national highway project awarded in India in terms of project cost with a tunnel length spanning 14.08 km.

Automobile

- Mahindra & Mahindra launched Imperio, a premium pick-up priced at `6.25 lakh (ex-showroom, Thane, BS III variant). The new M&M vehicle will compete against Tata Xenon and Isuzu D-Max pick-ups. The Imperio will replace the existing Genio pick-up.