India broke its own previous record of Covid deaths in 24 hours after the the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday said the nation recorded 4,529 deaths -- the highest number of fatalities from Covid infection.

There were 2,67,533 new cases reported in the same duration.

The Union Finance Ministry, on the recommendation of the Panchayati Raj Ministry, released Rs 8,923.8 crore to 25 states for providing grant to rural local bodies.

The spread of COVID-19 pandemic in different parts of the country has recently assumed serious proportions. The vulnerabilities of the rural communities need to be especially addressed.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Tuesday announced that it will provide a one-time Rs 49 plan for free to its around 6 crore low-income customers to help them stay connected during this pandemic time.

Additionally, Vodafone Idea customers in the target group will get almost double benefit on recharging their mobile service account with plan value of Rs 79, the company said in a statement.

Even as Cyclone Tauktae is weakening, as many as 93 crew members of an ONGC barge – Barge Papaa (P-305) - are still marooned in the Arabian Sea after the vessel sank 35 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast. Five ships of the Indian Navy, several Naval helicopters and the Indian Coast Guard were pressed into service to trace and rescue the crew members. At least 177 members of the 273 personnel on board were rescued in a massive search operation by the Navy. Navy ships Beas, Betwa and Teg joined INS Kochi and Kolkata as the rescue operations intensified on Tuesday.

Premium motorcycle brand and a part of the Bajaj Auto Group KTM extended the service and warranty periods of all its bike models in the country till July 31 in view of the raging pandemic.

KTM Probiking showrooms nationwide will pass on the benefits of extension of free service and warranty to all its customers, Bajaj Auto said in a statement.

Apollo Hospitals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Monday said they are collaborating to initiate a COVID-19 vaccination programme in the country with Sputnik V.

The first phase of the programme will kick off with vaccinations in Hyderabad on Monday and in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday (May 18) at Apollo facilities.

Shares of Tata Motors, on Tuesday, were up 3 per cent to Rs 332, while Tata Motors DVR (differential voting rights shares) hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 156, up 3 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday ahead of its January-March quarter (Q4FY21) earnings today. Tata Motors share hit a 52-week high of Rs 357 on March 3, 2021.

In today's meeting, the board would also consider a proposal for raising funds by way of issue of one or more instruments including convertible securities of any description or debt securities, through preferential issue, private placements, rights issue or any other methods or combination thereof in the domestic and/or international markets.

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd fell more than 2% on Tuesday, a day after the Indian telecom operator saw a key revenue metric miss an analyst estimate despite solid subscriber additions and higher data usage during the pandemic.

Shares of the country's second-largest telecom operator fell as much as 2.3% to 537.25 rupees in morning trade and were set for a fifth straight session of losses.

Google on Tuesday announced several initiatives for Indian news industry under its Google News Initiative (GNI), including the launch of Google News Showcase, a programme to train 50,000 journalists in digital skills, and training 800 small and mid sized news organisations grow their digital ad revenue.

The Google New Showcase, launched late last year, and currently active in several other countries, will show content from Indian publisher partners in English and Hindi in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover.

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Tuesday said that all possible measures in coordination with ODAG (Offshore Defence Advisory Group) and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) are being taken to ensure the safety of personnel and vessels in the aftermath of cyclone Tauktae.

After Tauktae hit the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai in the early hours of Monday where ONGC's major production installations and drilling rigs are located many unfortunate incidences have occurred involving three construction barges of M/s Afcons working on a project of ONGC in Western Offshore fields in the Arabian Sea and one drilling rig of ONGC deployed for exploration purpose.

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