* AUTOMOBILES: Mercedes-Benz India has announced an up to 4% hike in prices of its locally-produced models and up to 20% in select completely-built units.
* AVIATION: The Competition Commission of India has rejected a plea seeking directions to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and ministry of civil aviation to fix maximum retail price for air tickets.
* BANKING: Banks are likely to be the top payers of advance tax for Jan-Mar in the Mumbai region, going by indicative figures. RBI has mandated that over-the-counter foreign exchange derivatives trades between banks and their clients in some products should be reported on the Clearing Corp of India platform from Apr 2.
* CORPORATE: Government has clarified that investments made by companies in tax-free bonds issued by public sector units will not be a violation of law as long as "effective yield" on such bonds is higher than bank rate.
* ECONOMY: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services may revise India 's outlook to "stable" if the government takes steps to reduce structural fiscal deficit and attract investments into India . Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said India would have had to face "grave consequences" if the country had not adhered to fiscal consolidation path in the Budget for 2013-14.
- Finance minister said the direct benefit scheme would be implemented pan-India by the end of the year.
- Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan has strong reservations on banning gold imports, and believes that gold bonds will not help reduce imports.
* ENERGY: State-owned oil marketing companies are likely to cut petrol price by around 1 rupee per litre, but hike diesel prices by around 45 paise a litre, with effect from Saturday.
* FOREIGN INVESTMENT: The finance ministry is likely to approve the relaxations of the special economic zone policy, to be announced by Union Minister of Commerce & Industries Anand Sharma in the upcoming review of foreign trade policy.
* REGULATORY: RBI has said FIIs can use their investments in corporate bonds as collateral in futures and options segment of the stock market. The RBI is touch with banks named in an expose on money laundering, but has not sent any showcause notices to them so far.
* TELECOM: Videocon Mobile Services plans to launch 4G long-term evolution services in the Gujarat circle by December.
