Facebook’s COO gives $ 31 million in stock to charity

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has donated USD 31 million in Facebook stock to charity, days after her boss Mark Zuckerberg pledged to give away 99 per cent of his company shares.

Ms. Sanderberg, 46, donated 290,000 shares of Facebook stock at “a market value of roughly USD 31 million” to various charities, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission document.

The shares are now in the Sheryl Sandberg Philanthropy Fund, a donor-advised fund. Much of the money will go to causes that Ms. Sandberg has supported in the past. She has also given to women’s empowerment groups, such as Lean In,to help support women in the workplace, SiliconValley.com reported today.

Ms. Sandberg also plans to give to anti-poverty efforts and educational groups. She is the co-chair of the Stand Up for Kids Campaign for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties.

In 2014, Ms. Sandberg signed The Giving Pledge, the commitment by wealthy people to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy in their lifetime, the report said.

In December, 31-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the birth of his first child as he and his wife pledged to give away 99 per cent of his company shares worth a whopping USD 45 billion to make the world a “better place” for daughter Maxima and other children.

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Rupee at fresh 28-month low vs dollar, down 30 paise at 67.59

Extending losses for the second straight day against the American currency, the rupee dipped by 30 paise to fresh 28-month low at 67.59 on fresh dollar demand from importers in view of persistent foreign capital outflows amidst sharp fall in equities.

Persistent fall in crude oil prices also affected the market sentiment. Oil prices eased in Asia today, with the under-pressure commodity sitting around 12-year lows as dealers prepare for the return of Iranian exports to the market while the US stockpiles increase.

The rupee resumed lower at 67.35 per dollar as against yesterday’s closing level of 67.29 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to a low of 67.71 before closing at fresh 28-month low at 67.59, showing a loss of 30 paise or 0.45 per cent.

It had last settled at 67.63 on September 3, 2013 and during the intra-day trade at 68.62 on September 4, the same year.

The local currency has lost 74 paise or 1.11 per cent in two days.

It hovered in a range of 67.71 and 67.24 during the day.

However, the dollar index was down 0.12 per cent against a basket of six currencies in late afternoon trade.

The dollar fell around 0.8 per cent against the yen today in the late Asian market as a resumed global market sell-off sent investors running for cover in the perceived safety of the Japanese currency.

Weakness for the greenback came amid heavy fresh losses for crude oil, which dropped below USD 30 a barrel in morning European trading hours.

Further rattling investor nerves, China stocks reached bear-market territory today.

The US stock futures hinted of triple-digit losses for the Dow industrials at the open of trade later.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell sharply by 317.93 points or 1.28 per cent to 24,455.04 today.

Foreign portfolio investors pumped out USD 171.71 millions from equity market yesterday as per the SEBI’s record.

In forward market, premium for dollar firmed up on fresh paying pressure from corporates.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in June moved up to 191.75-193.75 paise from 189-191 paise yesterday and forward December 2016 contract also rose to 402-404 from 398-400 paise yesterday.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.4325 and for the euro at 73.3868.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee dropped further against the pound sterling to finish at 96.90 from overnight close of 96.81 and also declined further against the euro to conclude at 73.64 from 73.57.

The domestic currency continued to decline against the Japanese yen to settle at 57.58 from 57.24 per 100 yen yesterday.

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Transformational year: U.S. envoy Richard Verma

2015 was an unprecedented year in defence relationship as India and the United States began merging their critical defence and strategic needs, said U.S. envoy Richard Verma in a year-end statement.

“We held the first-ever Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, merging our commercial and strategic issues to help power the growth of both our countries. We established secure lines between our two National Security Advisers, and between the President and Prime Minister, so that important, time-sensitive issues could be tackled directly by our leaders. We launched a trilateral ministerial dialogue between Japan, India and the United States, and we entered into a Joint Strategic Vision for cooperation across the Asia Pacific with India,” Mr. Verma said.

Just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. in September, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved USD 2.5 billion deal for 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy lift helicopters. The Apaches will be the first offensive military platform India has contracted from the U.S. as the big ticket sales used to be logistic and transport-related in nature.

Mr. Verma also noted that Manohar Parrikar became the first Indian Defence Minister to visit the U.S. Pacific Command in the first week of December 2015. During Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s visit to the U.S. both sides agreed to expand the scope of the projects under DTTI (Defence Technology and Trade Initiative). A list of projects is currently being prepared in both countries which are expected to be exchanged in the next couple of months.

The ambassador pointed out that the year saw the United States reach out to India seeking help in episodes of crises.

“We called upon India for help to evacuate U.S. nationals from Yemen, and we worked together with India and others to help the people of Nepal after a devastating earthquake. We elevated our strategic partnership to “strategic plus” – signifying that we work together at a much higher level, in more places, and on more different subjects,” he said.

“President Obama was the first U.S. President to be the Chief Guest for India’s Republic Day ceremonies in January. Months later, Secretary of Defence Carter was the first Defence Secretary to visit an Indian military command,” said the envoy.

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Gold-rich temples weigh monetisation, but ‘melting’ a dampener

As the government seeks to monetize gold worth an estimated USD one trillion lying idle, all eyes are on their biggest repositories — the temples — but many of them fear that ‘melting’ of the ornaments donated by devotees may hurt religious sentiments.

Officials at a number of rich and famous temples across the country said they may not be able to immediately participate in the scheme, while a few others said the scheme was worth exploring but a final decision was yet to be taken.

For some temples, including Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala and the Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Maharashtra, the ongoing court cases are coming in the way.

The interest remains lukewarm among major temples in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan among other states, while a few in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat have shown initial interest.

However, most of them are concerned about issues like loss of value in the melting process and the religious sentiments of the devotees who donate gold ornaments in the name of the deities of the respective temples.

The Gold Monetisation Scheme, an ambitious initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, aims to bring an estimated 22,000 tonnes of gold lying idle with households, religious institutions and others into the financial system in return for a regular interest payout and the market-linked appreciation value.

The gold can be deposited even in the jewellery form, but it gets melted and the value is determined after testing its purity. The depositor can choose an option to get back the gold at a later date in the equivalent of ‘995 fineness gold or Indian rupees’ as they desire, but not in the same form.

Among various temples in Gujarat, the famous Ambaji temple has ruled out depositing its gold for the scheme at present, while Somnath temple has prepared a proposal in this regard and a final decision would be taken by its trustees.

Dwarkadhish temple in Devbhumi Dwarka is yet to take a call, but the chairman of the temple trust committee H K Patel said the scheme was worth giving a thought.

The famous Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai also appears interested in exploring the scheme as it is looking at options to utilise its 160 kg of gold reserves, out of which about 10 kg is already deposited with a bank.

The high-level Investment Committee of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the world’s richest Hindu temple of Sri Venkateswara Swamy, will also meet soon to discuss the issue of depositing its gold under this scheme.

Kanakadurgamma Temple in Vijayawada, the second richest temple in Andhra Pradesh, however has no plans to participate in this scheme, while neighboring Telangana government has not taken any decision as yet on participating in the Scheme.

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Obama signs Omnibus spending bill into law; raises H1B visa fee

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law a USD 1.8 trillion spending package which among other things introduces a hefty USD 4,000 fee for certain categories of H-1B visa and USD 4,500 for L1 visa.

The law comes as a shock for the Indian IT companies as they would have to pay millions of dollars while applying for H-1B visas, as they heavily rely on this work visa for highly skilled IT workers to get their work done in the U.S.

Indian IT companies have termed it as highly discriminatory and punitive as the text of the legislation has been written in such a way that such a high fee would have to be paid by only major Indian IT companies.

Companies having more than 50 employees and having more than 50 per cent of their US employees on H-1B and L1 visas would have to pay the new fee when the next visa application session kicks off on April 1, 2016.

This year’s Congressional approved quota of 65,000 H-1B visas was filled up in the first few days of the start of the application process on April 1.

In fact the U.S. government had to resort to a computerized draw of lots as it received several times the quota of 65,000.

The ‘Consolidated Appropriations Act 2016’ signed into law by Obama, includes a USD 1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that funds the government until September 30, 2016, as well as a USD 680 billion tax package.

Among other things, the new law makes US aid to Pakistan more stringent by asking the secretaries of state and defense to certify that Islamabad is taking actions against terrorist networks and meeting other conditions.

But the provision of a national interest waiver nullifies such conditionals.

The law also paves the way for the implementation of the long pending IMF Quota and Governance Reforms.

Approved and passed by the IMF in 2010, it could not be implemented because the Congress had not passed it.

IMF Managing Director Christine Laggard said the adoption of legislation by the U.S. Congress to authorize the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms is a welcome and crucial step forward that will strengthen the IMF in its role of supporting global financial stability.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said essential to this legislation are the IMF quota and governance reforms.

“The IMF has promoted stability, jobs and growth for the past 70 years, and these reforms will strengthen the US leadership position in this critical institution, while putting the Fund on a strong financial footing,” he said.

“Along with passage of Trade Promotion Authority and the conclusion of the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement this year, the IMF reforms reinforce the central leadership role of the United States in the global economic system and demonstrate our commitment to maintaining that position,” Mr. Lew said.

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Petrol, diesel prices cut

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Tuesday decided to reduce the petrol price by 50 paise a litre and diesel price by 46 paise a litre, including state levies with corresponding price revision in other states with effect from midnight of December 15.

This small cut is inspite of a significant fall Indian basket of crude oil fell to $34.39 a barrel as on Monday compared to $41.17 in the last fortnight, signaling that full benefit of falling crude oil prices have not been passed over to the consumers and the government has kept enough room for itself to further increase the excise duty to mop up revenues.

With the price cut, the retail selling price of petrol in Mumbai will be Rs 67.05 a litre and Rs 59.98 a litre in Delhi. Similarly, the retail selling price of diesel in Mumbai will be Rs 53.32 a litre and Rs 46.09 a litre in Delhi.

“The current level of international product prices of Petrol & Diesel and INR-USD exchange rate warrant a decrease in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision. The movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.,” said an Indian Oil statement, India’s largest fuel retailer.

The international crude oil prices have fallen to seven year low $38 a barrel as the oil producing countries decided not to cut supplies inspite of falling demand. Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday cut its 2016 Brent price assumption by $10 to $43 per barrel and its WTI price forecast by $8 to $40 on expectations of a prolonged supply glut.

The Indian basket of crude oil fell to $34.39 a barrel as on Monday compared to $41.17 in the last fortnight. In Rupee terms, the price of crude oil fell to Rs 2304 compared to price of Rs 2725 a fortnight ago. The price could have gone down further but the depreciating Indian Rupee prevented the fall. The Indian Rupee fell to 67 against the US compared to 66.21 a fortnight ago.

Meanwhile, India's fuel demand rose 6.4 percent in November compared with the same month last year, driven by higher sales of petrol as discounts and festive season buying increased passenger vehicle sales.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 14.8 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the petroleum ministry showed.

Interestingly, the rise in India's fuel demand is in contrast with sagging oil consumption in China, the world's second biggest economy. India would be the most important driver of energy demand growth in the world in the years to come, according to International Energy Agency estimates.

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