: RILs telecom plan risky: Moodys

International rating agency Moodys on Monday said the risk profile of Reliance Industries has increased following its entry into untested telecom space by acquiring Infotel Broadband Services, but has retained the stable outlook of the Mukesh Ambani-owned company. Despite the increased business risks, the rating agency affirmed Baa2 ratings, three notches down from the highest grade, with a stable outlook for RIL, Moody’s Investor Service said in its weekly outlook.

S&P revises Vedanta outlook

Standard & Poors Ratings Services on Monday said it had revised its outlook on London-based mining and metals company Vedanta Resources PLC to positive from stable. At the same time, it affirmed the BB long-term corporate credit rating on the companys unsecured notes. We anticipate Vedanta’s capacity expansion projects to come onstream progressively over the next one to two years. The companys aluminum and power expansion plans are slated for commissioning over the next four quarters, and will bolster its production volumes, said S&P’s credit analyst, Suzanne Smith, managing director, Corporate & Government Ratings, South and Southeast Asia.

IBM to launch 75 new centres

IBM will be establishing 75 new centres of excellence (CoE) at engineering colleges across 60 cities in India, according to a release. Last year, the company set up over 75 such CoEs across the country, and with the current announcement, it will take the total number of CoEs in the country to 150 by 2010, it added. These centres will cover 20 states and will be selected from the top 300 engineering colleges in the country.

NLCs workers to strike from July 7

About 13,000 workers of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) will go on an indefinite strike from July 7, demanding implementation of a tripartite agreement signed by the management of the public sector, central labour commissioner and the AITUC, trade union wing of the CPI. AITUC national secretary Gurudas Dasgupta M P said the agreement on wage hike and service regularisation for contract workers was signed on June 16, 2008, at New Delhi.

GVK project consortium

GVK Power and Infrastructure on Monday said its Rs 3,200 crore gas-based power project in Andhra Pradesh will be built by a consortium of South Koreas Hyundai Engineering and Larsen & Toubro. A consortium of Hyundai Engineering and L&T will execute the 800-MW combined cycle power plant and the equipment will be supplied by Siemens, a company official said. The 800-MW Gautami gas-based combined cycle power plant is…