MUMBAI, Jan 12 - Standard Chartered Bank is hunting for fresh buyers for its Indian mutual fund business and hopes to complete the deal by March, the Times of India newspaper reported on Saturday citing unnamed sources.

Barclays , Shinsei Bank and Credit Agricole along with some local private equity players are in the running to acquire the business after a proposed deal with UBS AG fell apart due to a refusal by the central bank, it said.

UBS said last year, subject to regulatory approvals, it would buy the British Bank's mutual funds business in India for about $118 million through the purchase of 100 percent of Standard Chartered Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd and Standard Chartered Trustee Pvt Ltd.

Standard Chartered MF has assets under management worth about 131 billion rupees for nearly 3 percent of the market, according to the Web site of Association of Mutual Funds in India, a trade body.

India's 32-strong mutual fund sector is seeing increasing interest from global asset managers encouraged by a booming economy that is boosting incomes and investments.