31/03/2014 Asia Business Report

during an FA Cup semi`final in 1989. Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore. Climate change, we look at the

latest report and it impact on people's lives and the global

economy. Find out why entrepreneurs are choosing to launch start`ups in

India. Welcome to Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. The

intergovernmental panel on climate change has released its latest

report on possible impacts on the sea levels and the weather, not just

on the world's environment but the economy as well. The report says

climate change could potentially stifle economic expansion and some

of the most significant effects will be felt in Asia. Earlier, I spoke

with an author. In the global aggregate, the impacts don't strike

me as very large. The global aggregate impact is in the order of

0.2% of GDP. That is in the global aggregate. For individual countries,

like low`lying countries, the impact would be much higher due to the

combined pressures of sea level rise, published in pressures and

other vulnerabilities in the ecosystems and the economic basis.

`` population pressures. It is understood that coastal areas in

Asia will be among the worst affected. What kind of impact will

it have on the region? It will have a strong impact. Most of the world's

most densely populated areas are in Asia, south`eastern and eastern

Asia. The impact this will have will very much depend on how society

decides to respond to climate change. Both in terms of whether we

collectively reduce gas emissions, and therefore reduce the sea level

rise rate, but all of the adaptation measures. We can either fortify

seawalls or adopt more flexible response mechanisms that ultimately

might mean that in some areas are managed strategic relocation of the

most vulnerable settlements might be needed. But it always comes down to

a local decision`making process, that needs to be connected with

national and in some cases international strategies. More signs

of a slowdown in Japan, as the latest numbers reveal industrial

production falling by more than 2%. That was in February. It reverses an

upward trend from the previous three months. The slowdown suggests

visitors are placing fewer orders in factories due to slowing demand

ahead of a planned sales tax hike. Effective tomorrow, Japan's

consumption tax goes up 2%. China's largest privately owned ship builder

has posted a loss of $1.4 billion for last year. It is a second

straight annual loss for the company. It blamed the losses on

declining orders during a downturn in the shipping sector. The company

turned to the government for financial help last year and warned

it would report a substantial loss due to its conservative sales

strategy. In Taipei, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to

the streets on Sunday near the presidential palace to protest at

government policy which aims to bring the island economically closer

to the mainland. The deal would allow service sector companies on

both sides to open up in each other's territories. The protest

have been going on for two weeks and shows no signs of letting up. In

Thailand, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been summoned to

appear before the country's national anti`corruption body to date to

defend herself against charges of being negligent up with the

controversial rice subsidy scheme. The plan paid farmers above market

rates for their crops at political opponents allege that the initiative

hurt the country's rice reduction industry and fostered corruption. If

found guilty, she faces an impeachment in the upper house or a

possible five`year ban from politics. Over the weekend, tens of

thousands of anti`government protesters were marching through

Bangkok in a fresh attempt to unseat the Prime Minister. It was the

biggest show of force from the demonstrators since the court ruled

earlier this month that February's general poll was invalid. Voting in

India begins in over one week and for whichever party comes into

power, kickstarting growth will be the biggest challenge. Despite the

slowdown over the past couple of years, the number of start`ups in

India has been on the rise. And it's not just local entrepreneurs setting

up business. This might look like a car park but in fact it is the home

of one of the first companies in India that lets you hire a car and

then drive it yourself. Unlike most developed countries, until recently

anyone wanting to rent a vehicle had to hire a driver as well. But the

new alternative is already proving successful. A lot of people thought,

these white Americans, they think they are going to come here and

start a company. But as soon as things turned tough, they are going

to run right back to good job opportunities in San Francisco and

New York. There is really no official figure but it is estimated

that over one million new small and medium`sized firms are launched in

India every year. But at the same time, according to the World Bank,

this is one of the toughest races to start a business. Mark's journey in

India began six years ago when he and his wife decided to move here

from the UK to start branding and corporate communication company.

This was the time that the Indian economy was the toast of the world,

growing at about 10% annually. But Mark feels this is still the place

to do business. I've seen other people who have looked at the same

opportunity we've seen, who have come and may be invested 18 months

or two years and not been able to make the returns they expected. They

say, fine, we will do something else. I think the next 5`10 years

could be very exciting. We remain pretty bullish about it. Clearly not

without its challenges. And it's not only individuals who are optimistic

about start`ups here. But investors as well. Last year, backers put $1.6

billion, US, into Indian start`ups with the e`commerce sector most

popular. Industry feels this will encourage more expatriots to look at

India for new opportunities. It is good to see this reverse kind of

migration happening. It's good because you suddenly have very open,

very entrepreneurial thinking, where many of us in India don't have that

openness of mind. Hats off to them. Making it easier for expatriots to

start a business here is something the government has been talking

about for a while. And, if that happens, that might tempt more

foreigners like Mark to come here, not just to sample the culture and

science and food but to have a go at being an Indian entrepreneur. In the

movie industry, films about superheroes are as American as Apple

pie that new technology means that film production is no longer tied

down to Hollywood studios. Movies are becoming a global industry and

increasingly Asia is becoming a major hub, especially for

postproduction work. I caught up with a director of the Amazing

Spider`Man II film. He said some of the postproduction was done in

India. I think there is something important with a large movie, you

have to appeal to a massive audience. That requires often a

pre`existing awareness of the character. But with a character like

Spider`Man, there are so many different inflections. It can

withstand so many different interpretations, that you can find

something new in something familiar. How much of the film production is

made in Asia? There are parts of the visual effects that were done in

India, in Mumbai. There was a whole team of artists. They worked on the

effects. Lucasfilm has opened its studio here. Asian headquarters have

been opened for postproduction work in India. What is the prospect of

work there? From what I experienced, postproduction has expanded across

the globe, because of the way it the into networks and the way

information transfers so quick and powerful. You can be working on many

different things simultaneously. So much of my post production work has

been going on in India, Korea. Given the nature of visual effects,

incredibly elaborate and requires thousands of people sometimes, you

have to spread that out across the world. What would it take for an

Asian film to make it really big in Hollywood? There have been great

cinema from Asia. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Asian

influence is massive. It goes beyond martial arts films. What Kurosawa

was able to achieve has had a profound influence on things like

Lucas Films, Stephen Spielberg. All these people paid very close

attention to what was happening here. Asian stock markets are mostly

trading higher this Monday. News of promising economic data and signs

that China will step into support its cooling