Espresso: G20 endorses global minimum tax, Branson's flight

Richard Branson flies to edge of space

British billionaire Richard Branson has beaten the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos in a race to space. Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, set off for space in a rocket made by the company, successfully completing a test flight that showed its capabilities to take passengers to space.

The VSS Unity spacecraft safely returned to the New Mexico desert on July 11 after speeding off 86 kilometres above Earth, marking the beginning of an era of commercial space tourism.

Bezos is set to launch next into space in his company Blue Origin’s spacecraft on July 20.

Bandhan Bank to build tech stack inhouse

Bandhan Bank has begun building an in-house IT ecosystem—infrastructure, network, applications, data and security—in the financial year 2020-21 to improve performance and scalability.

The bank will “promote the culture of Digital First”, said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, CEO and Managing Director of Bandhan Bank in its latest annual report. The bank has stated its Vision 2025 to deliver a “one-stop platform for hyper-personalised and omni-channel banking experience.”

G20 backs a global minimum tax

A G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting on Saturday endorsed details of the two pillars on the reallocation of profits of multinational enterprises—and an effective global minimum tax.

With the digital transformation’s potential to boost productivity, the finance ministers and bank governors endorsed the G20 Menu of Policy Options on Digital Transformation and Productivity Recovery. It provides policies and good practices to make better use of the opportunities of digitalisation, and will contribute to future work on productivity.

The G20 is the forum that brings together the world’s major economies. Its members include India, and account for more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of global trade and 60 percent of the population of the planet.

Raymond Group digitises processes

Raymond Group has revamped its digital presence ‘myraymond.com’ to improve sales, said Ganeshkumar S, Chief Operating Officer of Raymond Group in the company’s latest annual report.

Virtual trade shows replaced physical ones. Raymond Group also introduced digital swatch books, catalogues, and flipbooks for dealers, Ganeshkumar said.

A tailoring subscription programme, and virtual tours have become the basis for customer interaction. “Additionally, we introduced amongst the world’s first NPS (net promoter score) through WhatsApp, with direct button response and a machine-learning based algorithm to give recommendations based on purchase history and preferences.” Ganeshkumar added.

Twitter India appoints Grievance Officer

Twitter appointed Vinay Prakash as its new Grievance Officer in India, in order to comply with the country’s new IT rules.

The appointment reinstates the social media company’s liability protection on user-generated content.

India’s IT rules came into effect in May which tightened regulations surrounding content, creating tension between social media companies and the Indian government.

American startup hires Facebook executive as new CEO

Grocery delivery startup Instacart hired its board member and Facebook executive Fidji Simo as CEO ahead of its expected IPO. Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta will assume the role of Executive Chairman.

Instacart’s business improved during the COVID-19 restrictions last year, as more people ordered essentials online. The company, valued at $39 billion, saw its sales declining in 2021.