PRESS DIGEST - Indian Business News - Nov 3

MUMBAI Nov 3 (Reuters) - Indian newspapers carried the following stories in their print or Web editions on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

ECONOMIC TIMES (www.economictimes.com)

* Apparel firms Arvind (ARVN.BO) and Alok Industries (ALOK.BO) are exploring options to hive off retail businesses to unlock value of their brands by inviting equity investments.

BUSINESS STANDARD (www.business-standard.in)

* Telecom service provider Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) is close to awarding a contract for implementation of mobile number portability across its network worth 7-8 billion rupees to eight telecom firms including Intec Telecom Systems, ITL.L, ZTE Corp 000063.SZ, Tekelec TKLC.O and Radio Telecom.

DNA (www.dnaindia.com)

* The Drugs Technical Advisory Board is likely to deliberate on 12 drugs, which are banned in several parts of the world but allowed in India.

* SREI Infrastructure Finance (SREI.BO) is looking to raise an overseas fund with corpus of $500 million-$1 billion for domestic infrastructure projects.

* BOC India (BOC.BO) will invest 6 billion rupees in building and commissioning a 2,550 tonne per day air separation unit at Tata's Steel Ltd's (TISC.BO) Jamshedpur plant.

FINANCIAL EXPRESS (www.financialexpress.com)

* In a new strategy being drawn up by the department of industrial policy and promotion, foreign direct investment in single brand retail could be hiked to 74 percent from 51 percent now.

($1= 46.96 rupees)

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