With the intention to revivify and expand the agro-based industries in Bihar, state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bihar State Sugar Corporation Ltd and Bihar government.

The MoU was signed to take over sugar mills situated at Sugauli and Lauriya in East and West Champaran for 60 years lease (that could be extended for another 30 years).

Infrastructure conglomerate Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) has announced the results for the three month period ended December 31, 2008.

The flagship of Jaypee Group has posted a growth of six per cent (6%) in profit after tax (PAT) for the three month period, which stood at Rs 165.51 crore from Rs 155.8 crore the previous year.

There was an increase by 44.49 per cent to Rs 1,447.12 crore from Rs 1,001.57 crore the previous year in the total inclone of the company for the quarter.

Technology giant LG has recently released its two new budget handsets, the GB110 and the GB106 for its Indian users.

Targeting low to mid range customers, both candybar phones comes equipped with quite a few features.

The new LG GB106 mobile phone, which is cheaper of the two, sports a decent 1.5 inch 65k color screen and has 1.5MB of memory.

The phone also features a built-in FM Radio and a five-way D-pad. Moreover, the users do not require connecting the handset to listen to radio broadcasts on this phone.

BSNL landline phone service would offer a rent rebate to Pune customers whose phones had been dead or faulty for 15 days at a stretch during April 2007 to July 2008.

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has issued an interim circular to give a “rent rebate” to 22,700 customers whose telephones had gone dead for three or more days in a row. The telephones went dead due to technical faults, and occurred intermittently over a 14-month period.

Virgin Mobile topped user satisfaction in the year 2008. Out of 11 telecom operators only 5 could meet 90% quality benchmark set by TRAI.

Airtel which is considered to be the largest private operator in the sector failed to qualify for the TRAI benchmark. The other telecom operators that failed were BPL, Idea, MTNL and Spice. Vodafone and BSNL vied for the second spot with Vodafone making it to the spot by just 0.01%.

Federal Bank was immensely helped by the sharp rise in other income and lower interest income to approximately double its net profit for the third quarter ending December 31, 2009 to Rs 203.89 cr from Rs 102.92 cr the previous fiscal.

The net profit of the bank had a rise by 45.67% to Rs 386.32 crore for the nine month ended December 31.

There was an increase by 94% to Rs 164.81 cr from Rs 84.95 cr the previous year in the other income of the bank for the quarter while an increase by 35.11% was noted in the interest income.