16/09/2014 Asia Business Report


16/09/2014

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Koh Tao. Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from

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Singapore. Raising the stakes ` e`commerce

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giant Alibaba hikes its price, days before its listing. And why India

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looks set to become the world's fastest`growing exporter. Hello and

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welcome to Asia Business Report on BBC World News. I'm Rico Hizon.

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China's e`commerce giant Alibaba has boosted the price of its US share

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flotation to between $66 and $68 per share, in a sign there is strong

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investor demand for its initial public offering. This news comes as

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the Alibaba roadshow arrives in Singapore. Our reporter Ashley

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Ngheim has been looking at this huge share sale, and why it matters. She

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joins us now live from outside the venue for today's investors' lunch.

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Good morning, Rico. From outside the Ritz Carlton hotel, where as you say

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we believe investors would be treated to a special lunch and

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perhaps even an appearance I Alibaba's chief executive. Not a lot

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of detail has been revealed about this share sale information session,

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but what we do know is that if this price between 66 dollars and $68

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goes ahead, Alibaba stands to raise up to $25 billion in its share

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listing. It was already set to become the biggest in history, and

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despite the huge investor interest, many people still don't know about

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it. With just days to go until Alibaba's stock listing in New York,

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it is the talk of investors from Hong Kong to Wall Street. While it

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may be based in China, it is the world's biggest e`commerce company.

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In fact, more than 80% of online sales in China happen on an Alibaba

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site. But how big it is it outside its home market? We hit the streets

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of two of the world's biggest shopping meccas to ask whether they

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had heard of Alibaba. First to London. Alibaba? A long time ago.

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Aladdin. And the 40 thieves. Have you heard about Alibaba? The kebab

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shop? No. And then to New York. I am from China and I have never heard of

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it. It is actually an Arabian fairy tale, it is not Chinese. I have

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heard of it, but have never been to the site. Of course, the closer you

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get to China, people not only know Alibaba and shop on its site, but it

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has also been an inspiration for entrepreneurs, like this 29`year`old

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who has teamed up with the Chinese tech giant to sell more than one

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million products. We solve the problems in terms of language, in

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terms of payments, in terms of inspection, in terms of shipping. So

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they have four parts we do better. Alibaba and its offshoots may not

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yet be household names, but once its shares hit Wall Street, that may

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change ` something the entrepreneur is banking on, as he looks to expand

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his own business. The countdown is on, and all details will be revealed

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on Friday. From Singapore, the roadshow heads to London, and then

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goes to Chicago. A lot of excitement with Alibaba. Thank you for joining

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us, Ashleigh Nghiem. In other news making headlines, Microsoft has

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purchased the Swedish company behind the popular videogame Minecraft, for

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$US2.5 billion. More than 50 million copies of the game have been sold,

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which allows players to build objects with Lego`style blocks, as

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well as battle other players and explore a map. The three founders

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however are leaving the company, but have told investors everything will

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be OK. The famous French fashion house Jean`Paul Gaultier says it is

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to stop making ready`to`wear clothes for men and women. The fashion house

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said it will be concentrating on exclusive custom`made clothes from

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now on, as well as its perfume lines. Mr Gaultier launched his

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business in the early 1980s, and is one of the world's best known

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fashion designers. Some positive news for India this morning, with

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the country tipped to become the world's fastest`growing exporter.

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HSBC says global trade is heading for long`term growth, after a period

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of stagnation triggered by the global financial crisis. Our

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correspondent has more. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his

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Independence Day speech recently, he coined a new catchphrase ` make in

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India. Sell anywhere, but manufacture here, he said. But in

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reality he knows the true potential is to sell abroad. Despite its size,

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India is only the world's 14th`largest exporter, and needs to

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grab a much larger slice of what it makes, especially as domestic growth

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has slowed down. At the moment, Indian exports are worth more than

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$440 billion, though about a third of that is from services like IT,

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rather than manufacturing. Selling more products overseas partly

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depends on economic conditions, investing, and economies improving,

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and those countries having the appetite for Indian`made goods. But

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that is not the only battle. Other countries in the region are

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developing their export sectors. Bangladesh makes garments,

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Philippines electronics, Thailand and Vietnam machines and computer

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parts. The competition is getting tougher. I spoke earlier to HSBC's

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regional head of global trade Simon Constantinides about the bank's

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report, and started by asking about India's projected growth, and if

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Prime Minister Modi would be one of the main drivers behind it.

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Certainly the reforms that we expect Narendra Modi to put into place will

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help that, but India has got a growing middle`class economy, it has

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got a competitive Labour rate still, and it has a good hi`tech sector in

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the pharmaceutical area, and we are going to see pharmaceuticals grow.

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At the same time, India has been very much a domestic`driven economy.

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And we see that this is certainly going to change. But these reform

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policies are indeed promises, and you still have a high`interest`rate

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environment in India. Do you think Narendra Modi can deliver? The

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general sense that I get from speaking with clients in India is

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there is really a very, very positive momentum in place.

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Companies are getting very much set, from capital structures and their

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balance sheets, to take advantage of the growth they expect coming out

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next year. Well, who controls the Internet? The answer right now is,

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no single organisation. But there is increasing concern about what could

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happen if governments demand more say in how the Internet works. It is

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an issue being discussed by ICANN, the group responsible for assigning

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the billions of Internet domain names and IP addresses in existence

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today. Ali Moore caught up with their chief executive Fadi Chehade,

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and asked them about the risk of governments wanting to write the

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rules. It is a threat because if we do not give answers to governments

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on how we can together ensure that we have an Internet that allows

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limitless and permissionless innovation, but also is secure, if

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we do not give government mechanisms or parts to participate in the

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policy setting to do that, I think it is a threat, because governments

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have a duty to protect their people, and their citizens. But in reality,

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don't governments really control the Internet today? I mean, for example,

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they control access that their populations have. They may control

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the access, but they do not control the Internet, because the Internet

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is far more than access. The Internet is content. The Internet is

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policies on how things get managed. And it is that space that so far

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today has been managed by what we call the multi`stakeholder community

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` IT, governments, business, civil society, academia, technical people,

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come together and make these policies. So how are you satisfy

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governments? How do you ensure that they stay on the sidelines? We need

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to show governments that the multi`stakeholder model works, and

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that they can have an active, participatory role in it. Regarding

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privacy of citizens, protection of children, cyber security,

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governments have a role, and we need to have them at the table. If you

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don't appease them, however, what are the risks of governments getting

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more involved? Fragmentation. You will find that if the Internet is

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not working for those who are in power, and they are unable to

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contribute to how it is run, we will see a fragmentation of the Internet.

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And fragmentation is not just at the physical level, meaning possibly

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having multiple Internets, but it is also at the policy level. So if you

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are operating on the Internet, you will find that being able to render

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your services in one country becomes completely different from another

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country, and that fragmentation takes away, frankly, what made the

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Internet the massive engine of growth it is. Fadi Chehade, speaking

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to Ali Moore. Markets feeling the effects of China's weak economic

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data, Hong Kong as you can see shut today due to the Thai firm. Thank

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you for investing your time with us. `` typhoon. The top stories this

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hour: US planes have targeted Islamic State militants close to the

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Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in the first attacks under President Obama's new

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plan to combat the group. The attacks follow agreement among 30

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countries agree to support the Iraqi government's campaign against

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Islamic State. The high street chain Phones 4U has gone

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