Public sector lender Union Bank of India has reported a 93.27% rise in standalone net profit at to Rs 2,782 crore for the quarter that ended March, compared to Rs 1,440 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.

The net interest income rose 21.9% to Rs 8,250.5 crore during the quarter compared to Rs 6,769.4 crore in the previous quarter. The provisions stood at Rs 2,935.6 crore in the quarter that ended March this year against Rs 3,618.1 crore in the same quarter the previous year.

Leading payments and financial services company Paytm on May 5  announced impressive growth in its fourth quarter of FY23, ending the financial year on a high note.

In Q4 FY23, the company's revenue surged by 51 per cent (year-on-year) to reach Rs 2,334 crore, while the full-year revenue increased by 61 per cent YoY to Rs 7,990 crore, making it the highest-earning new-age company.

Lithium is a non-ferrous metal, which is used to make mobile-laptop, electric vehicles and other chargeable batteries. India is completely dependent on expensive foreign supplies of lithium. Now GSI has found large deposits of Lithium around Degana.

Lithium reserves in Rajasthan have been found in the same Renvat hill of Degana and its surrounding area, from where tungsten mineral was once supplied to the country. During British rule, the British discovered tungsten mineral in the year 1914 on the hill of Renwat in Degana.

Before independence, the tungsten produced here was used to make war material for the British Army during the First World War. After independence, it was also used in the field of making surgical instruments in the energy and health sector in the country. At that time around 1500 people used to work here.

In the year 1992-93, China's cheap export policy made tungsten coming out of here expensive. Eventually, the production of tungsten was stopped here. This hill, which was inhabited all the time and helped in the development of the country by supplying tungsten for years, became deserted in a single stroke.

Now the lithium coming out of this hill will change the fate of Rajasthan and the country

Lithium is the world's lightest metal, needed by every battery-powered device

Lithium is also the softest and lightest metal in the world. Soft enough to be cut with a vegetable knife and light enough to float when put in water. It stores chemical energy and converts it into electrical energy.

Lithium is present in every chargeable electronic and battery-powered gadget in the house today. For this reason, there is a tremendous demand for lithium around the world. Due to the global demand, it is also called White Gold. The global value of one ton of lithium is around Rs 57.36 lakh.

According to the World Bank report, by the year 2050, the global demand for lithium metal will increase by 500 per cent. From this point of view, getting immense reserves of Lithium in Rajasthan is extremely beneficial not only for the state but also for the country's economy.

The world's largest lithium reserves of 21 million tonnes are currently in the country of Bolivia. After this, there are also large reserves in Argentina, Chile and America. Despite this, China, which has reserves of 5.1 million tonnes of lithium, continues to have a monopoly in the global market.

India also has to buy 53.76 per cent of its total lithium imports from China. In the year 2020-21, India imported lithium worth more than Rs 6,000 crore and out of this lithium worth more than Rs 3,500 crore was bought from China.

Oil producers cartel OPEC's share in India's oil imports fell to an all-time low of 46 per cent in April as purchases of cheaper Russian oil peaked, industry data showed.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, mainly in the Middle East and Africa, had a 72 per cent share of all crude oil India imported in April 2022.

This share slid to 46 per cent in April 2023, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

OPEC made up for as much as 90 per cent of all crude oil India imported at one point of time but this has been sliding since Russian oil became available at discount in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Russia continued to be the single largest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into petrol and diesel at refineries, for a seventh straight month by supplying more than one-third of all oil India imported.

The imports from Russia are now more than combined purchases from Iraq and Saudi Arabia - India's biggest suppliers in the last decade.

From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Russia's share of India's imports rose to 1.67 million barrels per day in April, taking a 36 per cent share.

OPEC supplied 2.1 million barrels per day out of 4.6 million bpd oil India imported in April.

This gave it a 46 per cent share, according to Vortexa.

Indian refiners in the past rarely bought Russian oil due to high freight costs but now they are snapping up plentiful Russian cargo available at a discount to other grades as some Western nations rejected it because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The purchases from Russia in March were double of 0.81 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil bought from Iraq, which had been India's top oil supplier since 2017-18.

Saudi Arabia has been pushed down to No.3 spot with 0.67 million bpd supplies.

Month-on-month, purchases from Russia rose marginally from 1.64 million bpd of oil imported from the country in March.

The UAE, which in March overtook the US to become the fourth largest supplier, sold 185,000 bpd, higher than 119,000 bpd oil sourced from the US.

In another meeting of the top two players in the world, Aryna Sabalenka finally got the better of Iga Swiatek on clay.

Second-ranked Sabalenka beat top-ranked Swiatek 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reclaim the Madrid Open title on May 6

Sabalenka lost to Stuttgart final two weeks ago and had never previously taken a set against her Polish rival in three clay-court meetings.

But the Belarusian held nothing back by aggressively hitting for winners and breaking Swiatek four times in the 2 1/2-hour final.

The Australian Open champion claimed her tour-leading third title of the season and 13th of her career, including her second in Madrid after triumphing  in 2021.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka returns the ball to Iga Swiatek of Poland during their women's final match at the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain on May 6, 2023

It was the first WTA 1000 final between the top two ranked players since No. 1 Serena Williams beat No. 2 Li Na at the 2014 Miami Open. It was also only the third time in the last 40 years that the top two women met twice on clay in a single season.

Swiatek, a three-time Grand Slam winner, entered the match with a 5-2 record against Sabalenka. But she was clearly flustered early on by Sabalenka’s superb hitting. She shook her head and talked to her coach in the stands after costly hitting errors.

Indian weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga won silver in snatch but could not get an overall total as he failed to lift the weight in any of his three clean-and-jerk attempts in a disappointing show at the Asian Championships in Jinju,  a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

Competing in his first tournament since the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jeremy was the only one in the 12-lifter field who did not finish (DNF) his event.

The 20-year-old, however, won a silver medal in the snatch event with a personal best-equalling lift of 141kg in the non-Olympic 67kg weight class.

Jeremy failed to lift 165kg in his first two clean-and-jerk attempts. He then increased the weight to 168kg, which would have been 2kg more than his personal best, but the reigning Youth Olympic champion faltered again.

In fact, out of six attempts -- three each in snatch and clean and jerk -- Jeremy could heave the barbell only twice.

The Mizo lifter, who is returning from a thigh injury that saw him miss last year's World Championship, looked rusty from the beginning. His championship was off to a bad start; he faltered in his opening snatch attempt of 137kg as his right knee gave away. However, he was able to lift the same weight comfortably in his next try.

China's He Yueji 320kg (147kg+173kg) finished with the gold, while local favourite Lee Sangyeon 314kg (139kg+175kg) and Uzbek lifter Ergashev Adkhamjon 312kg (138kg+174kg) took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.

On  May 6 , Bindyarani Devi opened India's medal count by winning silver in the women's 55kg event.

As violence gripped Manipur a few days ago, the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Bindyarani Devi Sorokhaibam started getting restless in Jinju, South Korea. With her competition in the 55kg lined-up for May 6 , the violent clashes in her state made her anxious and sad. For the last two days, she has not been able to contact her parents back home. The ordeal continued even as she took the platform and claimed silver at the ongoing Asian Weightlifting Championships.

This is the first time the 24-year-old from Imphal has not spoken to her parents before and after a competition.

Bindyarani is happy that she helped the country to its first medal in the event but the situation in her state is still troubling her.

Chinese Taipei’s Chen Guan-ling finished first in the weight category with an overall lift of 204kg. The continental championships is one of the five events a lifter has to compete in if he/she wishes to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Standing in support of the protesting wrestlers, Dronacharya award-winning coach Mahavir Singh Phogat on May 5  threatened to return his medals if justice is not delivered, demanding the arrest of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The wrestlers, including Olympic medallist duo of Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, have been sitting on a protest in the national capital since April 23, demanding the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India Chief and BJP MP Singh for alleged sexual harassment of seven wrestlers, including a minor.