The Mint Report for 05 July 2012

A struggling Indian power company could find a rescuer overseas. Mint has learnt that American financial giant Morgan Stanley is in talks with LancoInfratech. Morgan Stanley is looking at acquiring a stake in Lanco’s thermal power assets.

A deal could help Lanco cut its debt of nearly 31,000 crores, which largely comes from its purchase of an Australian coal mine. Like other power companies, it’s had to turn to high-priced overseas coal because of shortages at home.

Switching gears, Bajaj Auto, the country’s biggest exporter of bikes and three-wheelers, is slashing prices in a key overseas market. It has cut prices in Sri Lanka by 10-15%.

The reduction will be shared by dealers and Bajaj Auto. The move comes after Sri Lanka hiked duties by 50 to 100% in April. That in turn prompted Bajaj to increase prices by about 30%, causing sales to drop.

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Lanco Infratech in talks with overseas investor; Bajaj Auto will cut prices in Sri Lanka; markets rise in a rally led by ITC.

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And there’s a spot of good news amid all the gloom and doom about the economy. The UN World Investment Report says India is still a top destination for global companies.

The report ranks India third after the China and the US. India drew in about $32 billion in FDI in 2011, though that seems to have slowed down this year.

And Indian markets rose on Thursday, with the Sensex ending at its highest close since April. The index closed 76 points higher at 17,539. And the Nifty jumped 25 to 5,327.