Navratna PSU Bharat Electronics Limited has secured an Rs 100 crore order to manufacture and supply 102,000 electronic voting machines for the forthcoming assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim and Parliament elections in 2009.

BEL has dispatched the first batch of 5,000 EVM yesterday, while the rest order is scheduled to be supplied in the next two months

Sterlite Technologies, a leading global provider of wire and cable solutions for the power and telecom industry, has pocketed a contract worth Rs 24 crore from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), to supply fiber optic cables with the highest density ever to be deployed in the country.

Under the arrangement, the company would supply ribbon-liter 288F ribbon fiber optic cables to BSNL, which BSNL would initially install at nearly 100 city sites across the country. This is the first time ever that, fiber optic cables higher than 144F would be deployed in India.

India's state-run miner National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Global miner Rio Tinto to consider investment and development opportunities in India and globally.

NMDC and Rio Tinto will hold a 50% equity stake each in the proposed joint venture.

Under the arrangement, NMDC will have access to Rio Tinto's technologies. The JV company will initially mine Iron and is likely to explore and mine other mineral reserves globally as well.

NMDC has already signed an agreement with Rio Tinto to import its "high smelt technology" for iron ore mining.

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra with its parent State Bank of India, India's largest lender controlling more than one-fourth of banking assets.