MUMBAI, June 27: Bank of India today said it was likely to hike its benchmark prime lending rates by 0.5 per cent with effect from 1 July. Our ALCO will meet on Monday. We are looking to hike our BPLR by 0.5 per cent with effect from 1 July, Bank of India's chairman and managing director Mr TS Narayanasami told reporters here. n PTI
Unitech

NEW DELHI, June 27: Country's second largest real estate player Unitech Ltd today said it would dilute 26 per cent stake in its telecom arm to a strategic foreign partner, for which it was in discussion with a few telecom firms n PTI
Power exch

NEW DELHI, June 27: Country's first power exchange ~ Indian Energy Exchange ~ today started its operation. The exchange, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), received bids for 13,176 Mwh of power when operation commenced and the transaction took place in the price range between Rs 6.46/kwh and Rs 8.01/kwh. n PTI
123Greetings

KOLKATA, June 27: In a bid to add expression to emotions and make social networking site Orkut more expressive, 123Greetings.com will now provide access to 20,000 free e-cards that are available for over 3,000 special occasions and events. n SNs
Finolex

KOLKATA, June 27: Finolex Industries Limited has received a highly encouraging response from the plumbing industry across the country for its UV stabilised plumbing system. n SNs
Water resource

NEW DELHI, June 27: The ministry of water resources today said that a number of measures for development and management of water resources were undertaken by the respective state governments which included creation of storage, restoration of water bodies, rain water harvesting, artificial recharge to ground water and adoption of better management practices. Storage capacity of about 225 BCM has been created so far. n SNS
SMP panel

NEW DELHI, June 27: With the growth of small and medium enterprises in the Saarc region seeking higher accounting standards, a committee on small and medium practitioners (SMP) has been set up, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president, Mr Ved Jain, said. n SNS