* AVIATION: International Air Transport Association has revised its profit forecast for carriers for 2013 upwards as airlines expect to clock higher revenue on better demand and improved business confidence globally. Air India's plan to monetise its real estate assets in the country is stuck due to lack of clear titles for quite a few of its properties.
* CEMENT: Private equity companies Carlyle and Temasek are in final stages of talks with Lafarge India to acquire a minority stake in the company.
* COAL: Coal ministry has asked Bihar , Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Chhattisgarh to appoint a nodal officer to evaluate mines to be allocated to public sector firms.
* CONGLOMERATE: Satish Pradhan, executive vice president in charge of group human resources at Tata Sons will leave the Tata Group in April, a move that is seen as part of changes initiated by Cyrus Mistry. Shriram Group is tapping the market to raise 10 bln rupees to expand its non-financial services businesses and has drawn the interest of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Standard Chartered Private Equity, among others.
* ECONOMY: Inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers rose to a 32-month high of 12.72% in February. The inflation rate based on CPI for rural labourers also rose to a 32-month high of 12.52%.
* ENERGY: Oil Minister Verappa Moily has said it was up to the state-owned oil marketing companies to revise prices of diesel. The Cabinet Committee on Investment has cleared five of the eight oil and gas block projects that were taken up by the panel today for approval. The government has agreed to convene a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers to address issues relating to gas supply and pricing, especially in the context of power sector.
* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: Parle Products, maker of world’s largest selling biscuit Parle G, is focussing on the crackers segment as the next area for growth.
* GOVERNMENT: Has put on hold a plan to review bilateral investment promotion and protection treaties with various nations in order not to repel foreign investment.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: National Association of Software and Services Companies plans to incubate 10,000 starts up enterprises over the next 10 years.
* INSURANCE: Life Insurance Corp is set to end the current financial year with a record profit of around 240 bln rupees from sale of shares in companies.
* POWER: Government's 2-trln-rupee debt restructuring package to bail out state electricity distribution companies has hit a roadblock on multiple fronts and is set to miss its Mar 31 deadline.
* PRIVATE EQUITY: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Private Equity is firming up plans for its third fund with a target corpus of $300 mln.
* REGULATORY: Lucknow High Court has advised Securities and Exchange Board of India to seek clarification on whether the Supreme Court's order regarding seizure of assets was meant only for Sahara Housing Investment Corp and Sahara India Real Estate Corp or for all group companies.
* RETAIL: Government plans to significantly liberalise foreign direct investment norms in single-brand retail to attract investment.
* STATES: Elections to Karnataka state assembly will be held in a single phase on May 5. The counting of votes will be held on May 8.
* TAX: India's double-tax avoidance treaties with countries such as US, Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden will help arms of companies operating in India avoid paying higher levies on royalties paid by them to their parents.
* TELECOM: Malaysian telecom company Maxis' chief executive officer Sandip Das has resigned and will leave Maxis on Apr 15. Government's plan to abolish third generation mobile telephony roaming, hike in second generation mobile telephony auction costs, and an impending
abolition of national roaming is set to push call rates up.
