A breakdown of diversity in Supreme Court
Equality
In a historic move, 9 Supreme Court Judges were sworn in at the same time, raising the total count of sitting judges in the apex court from 24 to 33, leaving only one more vacancy to fill (34 is the total number recommended).
This move was widely appreciated, since it marked a commitment to diversity, with 3 of the judges being women, 1 judge belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and 1 judge belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community.
Current composition
The latest appointment will mark a total of 11 women judges to have been appointed to the Supreme Court. Also, we now have 2 sitting judges belonging to the SC community after a gap of 2 decades.
Hon'ble Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna
Served as a Judge of the Karnataka High Court from 2008 to 2021
Inline to become the Chief Justice of India in the year 2027; this will make her the first woman CJI in the country
Notable cases: Ordered government to examine the regulation of broadcast media; rejected the Karnataka government's proposal to halt mid-day meals in COVID affected areas
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Hima Kohli
Former Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, and the first woman judge to hold that office
Involved with legal education and legal aid in India; chairperson of the Delhi State Legal Services Authority; huge advocate of women’s rights.
Notable cases: Protecting the identity of juveniles accused of a crime; provision of facilities for visually challenged in government educational institutions
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Bela M. Trivedi
Previously a judge of the Gujarat High Court, this appointment makes her the first woman Gujarat High Court judge to make it to Supreme Court
Specialises in civil and constitutional matters
Has nearly three decades of experience and is also a member of the General Council for Gujarat National Law University
Hon'ble Mr. Justice C.T. Ravikumar
Former Judge of Kerala High Court
Advocated and highlighted the importance of speedy trial: "Law is long but life is short"
Notable cases: Directed that police should avoid unnecessary arrests during the lockdown; ruled that the State is liable for road accidents as it is collecting road tax
Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.M. Sundresh
Served as Judge of Madras High Court
Asked the government to consider having Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's photo on Indian currency notes
Notable cases: Ordered a CBI probe into a series of elephant poaching incidents reported in the state; issued a notice to RBI to respond to PIL on NPA norms set by them
Importance of diversity in the judiciary
There have been a few arguments that say diversity should not be a major factor in ensuring a fair and equal judiciary and that it is the job of the judges to be impartial no matter what their background.
The people advocating for diversity however highlight that impartiality does not come from a single person but from a team of people having different sets of views and backgrounds. Hence, the celebration for the appointments and a further push to keep elevating diversity in the judiciary body.
Google Pay just got more interesting: Bigtech's foray into traditional banking
Business
Google Pay will offer its users FDs of Equitas Small Finance Bank for up to one year, at interest rates up to 6.85%, on an application interface built by Fintech Startup Setu. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank and AU Small Finance Bank are also expected to follow.
Why does this matter?
This represents the first step by ‘Big Tech’ firms to lower the drawbridge and cross the deposit-taking moat enjoyed by traditional banks, which has eluded them so far.
For a fee, platforms can easily extend their insights into consumer behaviour and payment flows, to influence deposit mobilization and become preferred financiers of cheap credit.
Current market scenario
Top 3 private-sector banks, along with SBI, command > 50% market share of mobile banking transactions by both value and volume, with SBI alone at 22%.
Top-5 banks in India accounted for 55% of the total system deposits, as of September 30, 2020, a share expected to be retained over the medium term.
Payment wallets’ transactions are growing exponentially (INR 5 Trillion in February 2021). Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe occupy 85% market share. UPI has emerged as the most popular mode of transacting digitally.
Should traditional banks be worried?
Big Tech firms are armed with a growing network of users and real-time, nonfinancial data can be a more powerful predictive tool than credit scores relied upon by banks.
Growing digital presence and dependence on payment wallets has rendered several traditional banking processes redundant. It is touted that an FD on Google Pay can be opened in under 2 minutes!
Whatsapp Pay is waiting in the wings to enter when its half a billion users are ripe for harvest, with platform intermediary fees expected to feast on partner bank margins.
Any protections in place?
The Central Bank has put the deposit licenses for Big Tech on hold citing concerns around a level playing field with banks, operational risk, too-big-to-fail issues, challenges for antitrust rules, cybersecurity and data privacy etc.
Further, it is already making more regulations w.r.t. wallet KYC restrictions and imposing market share caps for those doing payments atop UPI infrastructure.
The dichotomy
Yono, SBI’s digital arm claims a $40 billion market valuation. Why is its reach not a concern?
No existing rule prevents big banks like ICICI and HDFC, which already amass a plethora of data about their customers, from investing in their digital expansion and payment wallets.
Contrarian view
S&P believes that traditional banks with better franchises, higher internal capital generation, and a focus on digital banking technologies are likely to continue to gain market share and consolidate the industry.
UPI's framework is linked to customer bank accounts, thus lending banks the upper hand.
Physical branches will still be preferred by customers applying for personal and business loans, and seeking investment advice.
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