UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST-Indian Business News - Feb 1

(Adds item from Times of India)

MUMBAI Feb 1 (Reuters) - Indian newspapers carried the following stories in their print or Web editions on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

TIMES OF INDIA (www.timesofindia.com)

* B K Modi's Spice group will merge its two telecom subsidiaries, the listed Spice Mobiles (SPCL.BO) and the unlisted Spice Televentures, to form a new entity called Spice Mobility that will invest 10 billion rupees over the next two years.

BUSINESS STANDARD (www.business-standard.com)

* India's top lender State Bank of India (SBI.BO) plans to raise up to 200 billion rupees through equity in the next two years.

* Five consortia led by Reliance Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO), ITD Cementation India (ITCM.BO), Pioneer Infratech and Lanco Infratech (LAIN.BO) have been shortlisted for a $2-billion High Speed Rail Link in Bangalore.

ECONOMIC TIMES (www.economictimes.com)

* The Securities and Exchange Board of India has put on hold registration of close to 50 investors organised as multi-class share entities in tax havens like Mauritius, as the regulator takes a closer look at the structure of new investors and those seeking renewals.

* Private equity fund Actis is in talks to sell its stake in Nilgiris Dairy Farm due to a dispute with the southern retail firm's former promoters, who still retain some stake. Kolkata's Emami (EMAM.BO), serial entrepreneur C Sivasankaran and Kitara Capital are eyeing the stake.

* Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, two of the teams in the Indian Premier League, the popular Twenty20 cricket tournament, are likely to see changes in ownership. Hyderabad-based GMR Group, which controls Delhi Daredevils, has appointed Kotak Mahindra Bank while Rajasthan Royals, owned by Emerging Media, is using the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers to find new investors.

* Belgium's CMI Group is in talks with Indian steel producers such as Essar Steel and Bhushan Steel (BSSL.BO) to set up specialised steel-making facilities to meet growing demand for high value products from the auto industry.

* India's No.3 software firm, Wipro (WIPR.BO), has been empanelled by General Electric (GE.N) as an outsourcing vendor, which will allow the Indian firm to bid for nearly $1 billion worth of outsourcing projects of GE every year, against rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and Genpact (G.N).

($1=46.2 rupees)

Looking for more information from local sources? Factiva.com has 25 sources. For details about our products, please call your local help desk. To find out more about Reuters visit www.reuters.com. (Compiled by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Harish Nambiar)