Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday dedicated 142 schools in five districts under the state government's 5T School Transformation programme, which includes 67 schools in Sundargarh, 30 in Cuttack, 23 in Balasore, 12 in Nabarangpur and 10 in Kandhamal.

In the first phase of the 5T School Transformation programme, 1,075 schools in 30 districts of the state have been completed.

India recorded a single-day rise of 12,516 COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the country's tally of infections to 3,44,14,186, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Meanwhile, the count of active cases in the country has declined to 1,37,416, which is the lowest in 267 days.

Supreme Court judge Justice Hima Kohli on Thursday offered to recuse herself from hearing a batch of petitions arising out of the Amazon-Future Retail case, saying she and her family members have shares in Reliance Industries Ltd group firms, one of the interested parties to the litigation.

“We have no objection,” said a battery of lawyers appearing for parties including the US-based e-commerce giant Amazon, Future Retail Limited (FRL) and Future Coupons Private Ltd (FCPL).

E-commerce firms such as Amazon, Flipkart, and others witnessed blockbuster festive season sales of about $9.2 billion this year surpassing the pre-pandemic sales of $5 billion witnessed during the festive month in 2019. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with an increasing number of consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, according to analysts.

The year 2021 saw India witness its biggest ever Festive Sales with brands clocking a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $9.2 billion through online channels over this period, according to consulting firm RedSeer’s e-commerce festive season report.

The price of ten gram of 24-carat gold on Friday increased by Rs 90 to Rs 48,340 from Thursday's trading price. The price of silver increased by Rs 1800 per kg to Rs 66,500, according to goodreturns.in.

In Delhi, the rate of 24-carat gold stands at Rs 52,420 and in Mumbai it is Rs 48,340. The price of ten gram of 22-carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai is Rs 48,050 and Rs 47,340.

Vodafone Plc’s troubled India unit is in talks with the country’s largest lender about fresh loans, according to people familiar with the matter, in a deal that could pave the way for other banks to offer credit and boost survival chances of the cash-trapped wireless operator.

State Bank of India has asked Vodafone Idea Ltd., a joint venture between Vodafone and billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s conglomerate, to first outline a turnaround strategy, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd recorded 540.3 billion yuan ($84.54) billion in orders, or "gross merchandise value" (GMV), over its 11-day Singles' Day sales event, marking a roughly 14% increase from the year prior.

The results come as overall consumption in China slows, and cap a relatively muted version of a sales festival that Alibaba once aggressively promoted.

Tata Steel, the country’s oldest steel producer, has reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 11,918 crore in the September quarter, up nearly eightfold or 661 per cent from the corresponding period last year.

The company is looking to deleverage around Rs 12,000 crore this year, depending on cash flows. It had deleveraged Rs 11,800 crore last year.

Employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) continued their strike for the 15th day on Thursday over the demand for merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government, despite an appeal from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to cooperate with the government in its effort to resolve their issues.

All 250 bus depots of the MSRTC remained shut for the second consecutive day, an official said.

Centre has provided 1,20,08,58,170 vaccine doses to states and union territories so far, through free of cost channel, and through the direct state procurement category, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

According to an official release, 16,74,03,871 balance and unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered.

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