Tata Education and Development Trust donate a whooping $50 million to US

Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic entity of the Tata Group, has decided to donate a whooping $50 million (about Rs 240 crore at current exchange rates) to the prestigious Cornell University in New York.

University President David Skorton has called this donation coming from Tata as "one of the most generous endowments ever received from an international benefactor by an American university."

An agreement in this regard was signed by Ratan Tata, head of the Tata Group, and David Skorton, president of the Cornell University early this week. Ratan Tata is an alumnus of the university. Skorton made this announcement during the course of his State of the University Address on October 17.

The $50 million (about Rs 240 crores) is expected to give a major boost to the research and other activities of this private university located in Ithaca, New York. The university's entire endowment for international financial aid is about $1.5 million per year.

As per the agreement, the endowment consists of $25 million to establish the Tata-Cornell Initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition. This will contribute to advances in nutrition and agriculture for India, the university said.

The goal of the new agriculture initiative is to improve the productivity, sustainability and profitability of India's food system, with the aim of reducing poverty and malnutrition, said Alice Pell, Cornell vice provost for international relations.

The advisory board to be set up for this purpose would be co-chaired by Ratan Tata.

The remaining $25 million of the endowment would be used for the Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India. This is to help attract more of the best and brightest students to Cornell from India. The scholarships will be offered to between six and 10 students annually, depending on level of need, and could ultimately support up to 25 Tata scholars at Cornell at any one time.

Mohan Sehgal

Original article at :

Tata Education and Development Trust donate a whooping $50 million to US

Sensex tumbled to lowest levels in nearly three years

Joining a global equity rout on worries about a sharp global recession, domestic indices fell to their lowest levels in nearly three years on "Black Friday" as the benchmark BSE 30 Share Sensex tumbled by 1070.63 points to close at 8701.07.

The index had last tumbled below 9000 in November 2005.

The sell off began in the morning session itself led by realty, oil and gas, bank and metal stocks as the half yearly review of the Reserve Bank of India disappointed the markets, which were expecting some more measures from the central bank to expand liquidity in the system.

Signalling what could be a dark Diwali on Dalal Street, as many as 350 securities hit their all-time lows.

These included big names like Reliance Power, Cipla, Ranbaxy, Ambuja Cement, Hindalco, Jet Airways, Suzlon Energy, Idea Cellular and realty majors DLF Ltd. and Unitech.

The RBI had announced a slew of measures to assuage markets in the last one month, including the repo rate cut by 100 basis points four days back and a cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio a portion of the deposits that banks have to keep as a reserve to 6.5 per cent from October 11.

However, the sell off intensified with the domestic as well as the foreign funds hammering Indian stocks in line with its Asian peers whose stocks tumbled on fears of a severe global downturn.

In the bloodbath, 20 stocks from the 30 Share Sensex fell more than 10 per cent. This was the steepest fall in any single trading session after a 1,408-point plunge on January 21 this year. A broader index, the NSE 50 Share Nifty, lost 359.15 points to close at 2584. The Sensex fell 1204.88 points at the day's low of 8566.82 in late trade, its lowest level since November 23, 2005. Nifty hit a low of 2525.05 in late trade, its lowest level since November 11, 2005.

Meanwhile, announcing its stance of monetary policy for the remaining period of 2008-09, the RBI kept all the key rates unchanged even as it lowered its 2008-09 growth forecast to 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent from a previous forecast of around 8 per cent.

"The global downturn may be deeper, and the recovery longer than expected earlier," said RBI Governor D. Subbarao, here. The central task for the conduct of monetary policy has become more complex than before, with increasing priority being given to financial stability. The current challenge, according to Dr. Subbarao, is to strike an optimal balance between preserving financial stability, maintaining price stability, anchoring inflation expectations and sustaining the growth momentum.

European shares the U.K., French and German lost between 8.1 and 9.79 per cent on data suggesting Britain would enter a prolonged recession.

The rupee breached the historic 50 mark intra day against the U.S. dollar on sustained demand for the greenback amid its sharp rise against major currencies. It, however, recovered after the announcement of the monetary policy review and closed the day a little lower at 49.95/96.

Mohan Sehgal

Original article at : Sensex tumbled to lowest levels in nearly three years