11/12/2015 Asia Business Report

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

Laying the tracks. India and Japan are to sign a landmark deal on a

high speed railways for the subcontinent. And online giant

Alibaba looks set to purchase Hong Kong's biggest English-language

newspaper. Good morning. Glad you could join us for this Friday

edition of Asia Business Report. Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe,

is kicking off his visit to India later today where he will meet with

his counterpart, Narendra Modi. Both sides are expected to sign a nearly

$15 billion deal that will see Japan built India's first high-speed train

system. Now we go to our correspondent. Everyday 23 million

people use India's rail network, many of those travelling long

distance. Tickets often need bookings months in advance for the

privilege of travelling in these carriages which are usually old and

fairly rickety. The Narendra Modi government has said that by 2020, it

will invest $137 billion in the nation's vast but antiquated railway

system. Japan is expected to lend India more than half the cost of the

project, about $8 billion at very low interest rates and it is

Japanese technology. Expect Japanese firms to win the tenders to build

the trains and a big track although they will be under pressure to

create jobs here as well. But in just seven years, a service could be

running a 500 kilometre journey which could be undertaken in just

two Mac. So why this route and not Mumbai to Delhi? It is true that

this is the capital of the state that Narendra Modi was in charge of

but it is also one of the seven high-speed rail corridors which

India hopes to use to build its economy with new cities and

industrial zones along the way, that is Ahmadabad. Japanese companies are

not the only ones that are going to benefit from these promises. Last

month, General Electric and a French company won lucrative million-dollar

contracts to supply new locomotives to India's Railways. All these

improvements are still a little way off but with these kind of

infrastructure investments, they are what Narendra Modi needs to keep

India's economic growth on track. Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is

expected to announce its purchase of a controlling stake in Hong Kong's

South China morning Post later today. The deal has been rumoured

for weeks and this will mark yet another media acquisition for the

e-commerce company but this transaction is likely to be one of

its most controversial. Now we go to our correspondent. The South China

Morning Post has been around for more than 100 years and once upon a

time, it was known for its stellar coverage of China. Now those glory

days have dimmed a lot but despite that, particularly for English

speakers in Hong Kong, it is still considered to be required morning

reading. The paper has a rather modest readership of 350,000

people. Its influence is greater than that figure suggests. Every

month is website attracts 4 million unique visitors, two thirds of them

come from outside Hong Kong and China. They are mainly non- Chinese

speakers who are looking for insight into the China story. Employees say

the paper has become much less hard-hitting after being bought by

Malaysian-Chinese billionaire Robert Kwok in 1993. This former editor

says he is even more concerned now that there is a new owner. So what

exactly is the worry? Surely Alibaba would like to achieve success in the

media business by making sure that it's newspaper is still credible?

The chairman of Alibaba is very close to the party leadership and

moreover, he is a beneficiary of the tiny system so he won't want his

paper to criticize the Chinese political system. There is a

national policy to enhance control over Hong Kong by boosting mainland

Chinese ownership of Hong Kong media and this could have a bad impact on

freedom of expression, including integrity and the Chinese morning

Post -- South China morning Post. This has produced a new generation

of online news sites including the Hong Kong Free Press whose founder

expects to benefit from the deal. What is the impact on independent

media? Whenever we have questions about credibility in Hong Kong

press, we have seen a surge in support and traffic and donations at

Hong Kong Free Press. It may be bad for Hong Kong, but we benefit in the

long run. Over the past year, Alibaba has purchased many media

companies but this one is the most controversial and the details most

carefully scrutinized. Car sales are revving up in China. The latest

figures show new tax breaks may have pulled the industry back from the

brink of the terrible year. Now we go to our correspondent. Just hours

after Chinese authorities lifted the red alert came confirmation that the

number of vehicles on the road is only increasing. New figures from

the organisation representing Chinese car manufacturers showed two

and a half million vehicles were sold in November, a jump of 20% from

a year ago. That is because in China's car market, the only breaks

that really matter are tax breaks. Sales started accelerating two

months ago when the government brought in measures to boost its

weak auto market. Authorities cut taxes on new small cars in half

following concerned growth in vehicle sales had been slowing for

five years. That is a great concern because as the industry has planned

for sales higher than the current rate of market demand, their

inventory problems have arisen. In order to get the inventory out of

the channel and into the hands of the customers, you need a

consumption tax which will give people the benefit of a lower

purchase price and that has actually helped sales. Yet cars are part of

the reason that China is choking on pollution. During the capital's

recent three-day red alert for small group, the government ordered cars

off the road according to odd and even number plates. But there are

exception to the rule. Electric cars are exempt from any restrictions and

it seems that is why many people are looking to purchase them.

TRANSLATION: I'm considering purchasing one because Beijing is

introducing new policies to limit cars on smoggy days but there are no

limitations on electric cars. Some dealers say inquiries have risen 10%

in the last few days, which could prove to be a big plus for them and

the environment as well. There are millions of devout Muslim Hindus

across India but with life becoming hectic, it is not always possible

for them to get to the temple to perform their rituals, so what do

they do? One Indian company thinks it has the answer.

We started the service to facilitate the performance of rituals in Hindu

temples all over India. We got this idea because the people who didn't

have access to be especially for nonresident Indians, students, and

Louise, those from India who have travelled abroad -- employees. We

have a website, you select a temple where you want to go and choose the

date you would like. Then you pay and it gets done.

Many of these temples will do streaming video so you can see the

service online. You are quite connected to what is happening in

the temple, so it feels like you are virtually there and participating in

a way and the gap it's kind of filled in is being able to offer a

prayer on a particular day, a special day either in terms of

family or in terms of a festival and that is actually quite

heartwarming. And for more on this story, watch this programme over the

weekend at BBC World News. Here's a quick look at the markets. Currently

we are seeing a relief rally across the board this Friday after US

stocks snapped a 3-game losing streak despite another slide in oil

prices. -- read a. Hong Kong, Japan and Australia are all in positive

territory. 4,000 migrants are arriving

in Greece every day