More evidence on "hoarding cash"

WASHINGTON: Google's reshaping under newly formed parent Alphabet gives the tech giant more ability to focus on its core business, while offering startup-like flexibility to long shot, trailblazing projects. The announcement Monday of the new corporate structure was generally welcomed in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, where Google shares closed with a robust gain of 4.3 per cent at $660.78. Alphabet will be the corporate parent, overseeing the Google unit for search and a handful of other operating firms created for projects in health, Internet delivery, investment and research.

With an estimated Rs 6 lakh crore deposited in bank accounts in the past two weeks, the saving bank accounts of Indians are bulging with cash. Given the restrictions on withdrawals, a large chunk of this money is going to stay put in the bank accounts for the next few months, earning a paltry interest of 4% (6% in select banks) per year. Though interest on savings bank accounts is tax-free up to Rs 10,000 per year, it's not a good idea to keep Rs 2.5 lakh idling in your bank account.

The cut in the interest rates on small savings schemes has jolted investors. Though targeted schemes such as the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana and the Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme and the hugely popular Public Provident Fund have seen modest cuts of 60-70 basis points (see graphic), the interest rates on some other instruments have been cut by 100-130 basis points (100 basis points = 1%). The cut announced on 18 March is only the beginning. Investors should be ready for more changes in the coming quarters.

Yesterday, the New York Times published some interesting statistics about retirement funds investing in big privately held tech companies — including so-called "unicorns" with billion-dollar-plus valuations, like Pinterest, Uber, and Airbnb.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) seems to be enjoying immense amounts of interest despite ending 2014 on a lower note than investors expected. Part of the reason is that the market is coming to terms with the fact that the search-engine giant is still a potential success story and a growth stock, contrary to prior sentiments.

Google has been embroiled in anti-trust cases for about four years and the most recent accusation came from Russian search engine Yandex. The European Union’s Antitrust Commission has been investigating the company for four years regarding accusations that the search engine seems to favor its own products and unfairly “promotes” them while failing to display results for its competitors.

BEIJING — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s e-commerce and mobile businesses surged in the September quarter, far outpacing its rivals’ and glossing over weakening margins and decelerating earnings growth. Its shares edged as much as 3% higher to a record high after the Chinese e-commerce company reported a brisk 49% rise in the gross value of merchandise sold. The bump to shares fulfilled chairman Jack Ma’s wish by bumping Alibaba’s market cap to US$251-billion, above Walmart’s roughly $246 billion market cap.