* AUTOMOBILES: Mercedes-Benz India has launched the diesel variant of its B-Class luxury tourer, priced at 2.3 mln rupees ex-showroom Mumbai.
* AVIATION: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh expects the bill to set up the Civil Aviation Authority to be passed in the monsoon session of parliament. The government is preparing to charge air passengers up to 10 rupees per ticket to create a new regulator for civil aviation, civil aviation secretary K.N. Srivastava said. GVK GROUP-led Bangalore International Airport is talking to Indian carriers to create their secondary hub in Bengaluru, in a bid to have a home base carrier after KINGFISHER AIRLINES stopped operations last year.
* BANKING: Bankers have requested the RBI to pay interest on Cash Reserve Ratio, PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK Chairman and Managing Director K.R. Kamath said. RBI Governor D. Subbarao has reiterated that controlling inflation will always be an important job for the central bank. Banks have requested the RBI to review the recently issued guidelines on higher provisioning for restructured loans as they see it significantly impacting their profitability.
* CAPITAL GOODS: RBI has asked banks to link trade credit for import of capital goods into India with operating cycle and trade transactions.
* COAL: The coal ministry has denied giving copies of block allocation related details to former coal minister A. Dasari Rao and former coal secretary H.C. Gupta who have been booked by the central bureau of investigation for alleged irregularities in allotments of blocks.
* ECONOMY: Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan will meet investment bankers today (Friday) and may discuss overseas funding options with them.
* ENERGY: Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily, on his recent visit to Iraq , sought more crude oil imports from the West Asian nation to help bridge the shortfall due to US sanctions on Iran . The minister has clarified that the government had no intention to review the new gas pricing policy that was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last month. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has granted clearance for 'first approach to criticality'-- a preliminary, controlled nuclear reaction--to unit-I of the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu.
* INSURANCE: Life Insurance Corp may have to pay out 900 bln rupees in defined maturity benefits and survival benefits, up 20% from last year where sufficient returns from investment in equities and bonds have become uncertain because of the gyration of the market.
* INVESTMENT: The Foreign Investment Promotion of Board has put a very unusual Nrider while clearing the proposal of Norwegian telecom major Telenor to increase its stake in its Indian venture that the officials who have worked in Pakistan 'should not be allowed to work in India '.
* MANUFACTURING: The government has drawn up a plan to remove bottlenecks holding back investment in manufacturing at the state level in order to revitalise the flagging sector by aligning states' approach with the long-term strategy of the Centre.
* MEDIA: TAM Media Research has agreed to release absolute numbers of viewers as opposed to percentage only once a month.
* MINING: Only 10-12 mines out of the total 117 mines in Karnataka have started operations following the Supreme Court order of allowing A and B category mines to resume operations due to liquidity crunch.
* PRIVATE EQUITY: The private equity arm of JP Morgan has bought around 19% stake in Diligent Power at an investment of 8 bln rupees.
* REGULATORY: The RBI has said that companies can refinance overseas loans at higher costs till Sep 30. The RBI has granted resident banks in India general permission to acquire the shares of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Belgium . SEBI is in discussion to review the disclosures in public issues. Its committee had discussion on presentation of financial data, industry and market information as well as negative statements in the offer documents. The RBI might raise their Wholesale Price Index inflation estimates upwards for 2013-14 (Apr-Mar) with the rupee's steady slide against the dollar.
* TELECOM: The telecom department has sought the views of the National Information Board on the draft telecom security policy before it is placed before the Cabinet committee for approval.
* TEXTILE: Textile Minister K.S. Rao has asked banks to give details of all pending claims regarding Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme by the end of this month.
* AVIATION: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh expects the bill to set up the Civil Aviation Authority to be passed in the monsoon session of parliament. The government is preparing to charge air passengers up to 10 rupees per ticket to create a new regulator for civil aviation, civil aviation secretary K.N. Srivastava said. GVK GROUP-led Bangalore International Airport is talking to Indian carriers to create their secondary hub in Bengaluru, in a bid to have a home base carrier after KINGFISHER AIRLINES stopped operations last year.
* BANKING: Bankers have requested the RBI to pay interest on Cash Reserve Ratio, PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK Chairman and Managing Director K.R. Kamath said. RBI Governor D. Subbarao has reiterated that controlling inflation will always be an important job for the central bank. Banks have requested the RBI to review the recently issued guidelines on higher provisioning for restructured loans as they see it significantly impacting their profitability.
* CAPITAL GOODS: RBI has asked banks to link trade credit for import of capital goods into India with operating cycle and trade transactions.
* COAL: The coal ministry has denied giving copies of block allocation related details to former coal minister A. Dasari Rao and former coal secretary H.C. Gupta who have been booked by the central bureau of investigation for alleged irregularities in allotments of blocks.
* ECONOMY: Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan will meet investment bankers today (Friday) and may discuss overseas funding options with them.
* ENERGY: Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily, on his recent visit to Iraq , sought more crude oil imports from the West Asian nation to help bridge the shortfall due to US sanctions on Iran . The minister has clarified that the government had no intention to review the new gas pricing policy that was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last month. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has granted clearance for 'first approach to criticality'-- a preliminary, controlled nuclear reaction--to unit-I of the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu.
* INSURANCE: Life Insurance Corp may have to pay out 900 bln rupees in defined maturity benefits and survival benefits, up 20% from last year where sufficient returns from investment in equities and bonds have become uncertain because of the gyration of the market.
* INVESTMENT: The Foreign Investment Promotion of Board has put a very unusual Nrider while clearing the proposal of Norwegian telecom major Telenor to increase its stake in its Indian venture that the officials who have worked in Pakistan 'should not be allowed to work in India '.
* MANUFACTURING: The government has drawn up a plan to remove bottlenecks holding back investment in manufacturing at the state level in order to revitalise the flagging sector by aligning states' approach with the long-term strategy of the Centre.
* MEDIA: TAM Media Research has agreed to release absolute numbers of viewers as opposed to percentage only once a month.
* MINING: Only 10-12 mines out of the total 117 mines in Karnataka have started operations following the Supreme Court order of allowing A and B category mines to resume operations due to liquidity crunch.
* PRIVATE EQUITY: The private equity arm of JP Morgan has bought around 19% stake in Diligent Power at an investment of 8 bln rupees.
* REGULATORY: The RBI has said that companies can refinance overseas loans at higher costs till Sep 30. The RBI has granted resident banks in India general permission to acquire the shares of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Belgium . SEBI is in discussion to review the disclosures in public issues. Its committee had discussion on presentation of financial data, industry and market information as well as negative statements in the offer documents. The RBI might raise their Wholesale Price Index inflation estimates upwards for 2013-14 (Apr-Mar) with the rupee's steady slide against the dollar.
* TELECOM: The telecom department has sought the views of the National Information Board on the draft telecom security policy before it is placed before the Cabinet committee for approval.
* TEXTILE: Textile Minister K.S. Rao has asked banks to give details of all pending claims regarding Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme by the end of this month.
