India’s 3G and BWA auctions could see further delays. The defence ministry has written to the department of telecommunications pointing out major discrepancies in a document it released last month. The defence ministry letter says the department of telecommunications has included spectrum that had not been agreed upon in the auction and also does not include spectrum that the military has already vacated. The department of telecommunications has not commented officially on the letter. India is hoping to get about Rs35,000 crore from the 3G and BWA spectrum in an auction currently scheduled for January next year.

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The Bombay Stock Exchange is trying to revive its segment for derivatives. Recently, the exchange got an approval from Sebi to start a new cycle for its stock futures and options contracts. It now plans to make it monthly derivatives contracts expire in the middle of every month. Currently, contracts on both the BSE and NSE are settled on the last Thursday of every month.

October has been a bumper month for India’s car companies. New figures from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers show they sold 132,615 cars compared to 99,000 in the same month a year ago. This is the largest increase in cars sales in more than two years. The acceleration in car sales was fueled by the festival season and a four billion dollar payout to government employees.

India’s airlines are having a much harder time. Air India’s losses for the financial year ending March 2009 widened to Rs5,548 crore. In recent times, Air India has been trying to cut costs by restructuring or canceling some of its routes as well as by returning leased aircraft.

Cipla has launched a generic version of the drug Tamiflu, which is used to treat patients with the H1N1 swine flu virus. The new drug will be called Antiflu.