Indian investment up

NEW DELHI: As a confident India Inc has started bidding for more and bigger deals abroad, in 2007-08 overseas investment from India will be around $15 billion - surpassing foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the country, says a study. The bulk of outward FDI flow will be driven mainly by India’s booming manufacturing sector, said the ‘Study on FDI Outflow & Role of Manufacturing in the Mergers & Acquisitions Front, 2007’, by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). — HNS

New gas field found

BEIJING: Oil giant Sinopec has discovered a huge gas field in southwest China’s Sichuan province. The natural gas reserve of the field is very likely to exceed that of Puguang, a gas field also in Sichuan province with proven reserves expected to reach 500 billion cubic meters by 2008. Since the gas field is still under exploration, the company will not reveal its estimated gas reserves. The company will build a pipeline to supply natural gas from Sichuan to Shanghai. Prior to the new gas field, China only had five natural gas fields with deposits exceeding 200 billion cubic meters. — Xinhua