02/06/2014 Asia Business Report

by Jimmy Savile, more than 50 more than previously thought. The

youngest alleged victim was just two years old. Now for the latest

business news, live from Singapore. Signs of improvement in the world 's

second`largest economy. Growth in Chinese manufacturing sector. It

sets a five`month high. And what can business do about the

effect of unpredictable climate patterns on the world 's water

supply? Thanks for joining us. You are

watching Asia Business Report on BBC World News. Efforts by the Chinese

government to boost growth in the economy are showing early signs of

success. Figures measuring the output of China's factories in May

have shown the fastest pace of expansion for five months, but there

are still worries about weakness in the property market as well as

disappointing growth in investment and consumption. Julian Evans

Pritchard says it an upbeat number and explains what's behind it. I

think there are two reasons for that. One is supply and demand, so

we are seeing export growth picking up, and the stimulus measures you

mentioned, they've created a rebound of infrastructure and investment,

and that's helping to support the sector. And the Chinese government

wants to sustain this growth in factory output because on Friday

they introduced fresh easing measures such as lower funding costs

and reducing operational costs? Exactly. There are still concerns

the property sector is putting a lot of downward pressure on the economy,

and I think that's forced them to consider further stimulus measures

like the ones that were announced on Friday. Do we expect more of the

stimulus initiatives coming from the Chinese government, more targeted

measures, rather than a massive stimulus package? That's one of the

interesting things this year and last year as well, is that the

government has sort of avoided rolling out across`the`board

loosening, and that reflects the fact that they don't want to see a

renewed credit fuelled boom. They want to support growth but not at

the expense of future growth. So I think that... I definitely wouldn't

want to rule out further targeted measures but I don't think we will

see across`the`board loosening this year. Markets will be focusing on

Tuesday for the final BMI reading from HSBC, which focuses on smaller

companies and private firms. That number will be very interesting to

see if the final reading confirms what we saw, particularly exports,

the higher since 2010, so it will be interesting to look at that number

and see, is it showing what other indicators are showing, that

conditions are stabilised and they are looking better than they were at

the beginning of this quarter? Thank you. Flights have resumed in

Australia after an ash cloud from and Indonesia in Volcano cleared.

The volcanic dust had stopped flight to Southeast Asia from Perth and

Darwen but the threat hasn't gone away. The volcano in southern

Indonesia is still interrupting and that

Indonesia is still interrupting and good impact flights to Bali in

coming days. And all eyes are on the worldwide

developers' conference in San Francisco where Apple is expected to

unveil the next versions of its iPhone and Mac software. Software is

surging over to its highest level since the iPhone five went on sale

in 2012. It covers two thirds of the world

surface and yet at times it is worryingly scarce. In a moment we

will be hearing from the president of the World Water Council to see

how businesses can ward off any shortages, but first this report on

one of the world 's driest cities, Perth, in what authorities are doing

there. On the south`western coast of the

world driest inhabited continents its Perth. Australia's driest major

city. `` sits Perth. A chronic lack of rain in recent years has forced

authorities to rethink their approach to water. The aim has been

to drought proof the city of more than 2 million people. Western

Australia has seen climate change happen faster and earlier than

almost anywhere else on the planet. In the last 15 years, the water from

rain into our dams has dropped to 1/6 of what it used to be before

that. To help satisfy a thirsty and growing population, the Perth

desalination plant produces more than 115 million litres of drinking

water everyday. Now half of the city's water supplies can come from

the sea. Recycling and pumping waste water into giant aquifers are also

part of a grand plan. We've got two desalination plants. We've also been

trialling and have just recently made the decision to go down the

path of groundwater replenishment, which is treating wastewater and

injecting it into our aquifers, and we need to become less reliant on

rainfall. This doesn't feel like a city that has the thing so carefully

about water, but creating green OA sees as well as guaranteeing

supplies isn't cheap. Desalination is an expensive process and,

although household consumption has been falling, bills have doubled in

recent years. The authorities here believe that Perth can show rain

deprived cities in other countries how to become green uninviting no

matter what the weather. The president of the World Water

Counsel explains what businesses can do. It is working on the demand

side, making sure that people understand the importance of water,

and using it efficiently, and on the other hand, by providing the

infrastructure, like reservoirs and dams, that need to be constructed in

order to make us more resilient to these more intense events. But do

Asian governments understand this immediate problem? I hope they will

understand it, because we used to say that water is a local problem,

but we know now that these local problems affect the global economy.

You take the flooding in Thailand in 2011, and the droughts here now,

they'll have impacts on the production of these countries that

effect the global economy. So are there opportunities for innovative

companies to be part of this immediate issue? Absolutely, and

this is critical and strategic, because, in some situations, you

have to reuse the sewage that is produced in order to have water to

supply to people, so technology plays a very, very important role,

and there is opportunity for companies to work in this area.

India came away from this year 's election with a new government.

Hundreds of millions of voters also came away from the polls with

something else ` ink on their fingers. The one company, all those

stained hands add up to a tidy profit.

Having ink painted on your finger at election time here is designed to

stop fraud, but it's also become a symbol of pride.

Snapping a picture of your inked finger to put on Facebook, Twitter

or Insta gram proved popular with celebrities and regular voters

alike. It used to mark people think is after they voted and was made

right here in Mysore, and they send out about 2.1 million bottles all

over India, but now of course the elections are over, so I've come to

find out, what difference did make to their company, and what are they

going to do now? While things are pretty happy and quiet at the

moment, it was a different story just a few months ago. You know, in

fact we have got about 60 workers, so we've employed more workers from

outsourcing. We took nearly 150 workers, and we took, totally, 15

days to manufacture the indelible ink for the Indian elections. It's

been in this business since 1962, supplying regional and state

elections as well as the national campaigns, but it also tenders the

contracts abroad. So far it's sold ink the ballots in about 25

countries. Some countries put a point and some countries draw a

line, and some dip their fingers into the bottle, so the quantity

that is required depends upon the country also, and their type of

usage. So at least 50% of the time we will be busy with the election

vote. What about the rest of the time? This is a business that's used

to evolving, and today other development keeps things running. It

is the heart of this company. One of the important things about what we

are manufacturing is this paint, mainly used as an automobile paint.

Ink sales here will total about $8 million this year. But 2014

obviously won't be typical. So, while it remains their most

high`profile product, the business plan is to make a range of things

that are in demand and try and make sure that the mix is right.

Before we go, here's a quick look at the prices:

All eyes right now are on that HSBC final PMI reading to be released

tomorrow. Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore all in the plus

column. Thank you so much for investing your time with us. I'm

Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next. BBC News. The top stories: The

Afghan government has reacted angrily to