13/11/2015 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news, with Aaron and

An economy choked by austerity, or one that has just failed to reform?

No end to the misery for Greece, as it slides back towards recession.

Plus: Turning breakdowns into big bucks.

Why the AA is answering the call of India's new motorists.

How long have I got? You give me nine minutes and I will give you a

snapshot of the latest in the world of business and money.

We start with Greece, and growing fears the country is

Some are blaming the harsh austerity imposed

by the EU and IMF, others a failure by Athens to stick to its reforms.

Either way, the suffering of the Greek people is set to continue.

Greece returned to economic growth last year, after a six-year slump,

but it looks like that recovery is over.

GDP figures for the three months to September

They are expected to show Greece's economy contracted 1% compared to

the last three-month period, wiping out the growth

And it is a trend that could be set to continue.

Both the European Commission and the OECD warn that Greek GDP

will end the year down 1.4%, with a similar fall again next year.

A quarter of the Greek workforce are still unemployed, over twice the EU

average, and almost half of those under 25 are without a job.

On Thursday, Greece was paralysed by a general

strike over new austerity measures, with over 20,000 protesters taking

Trade union leaders and many Greeks have turned on

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party, accusing them

Here is what some had to say yesterday.

TRANSLATION: I believe strikes can backfire on the worker, but there

are some moments when people need to react.

This is the time when people need to react.

Enough already with the taxes, enough with the double talk.

TRANSLATION: It's an expression of worry about the uncertainty and

insecurity that prevails in our country, and for the living

standards of our society and people.

TRANSLATION: Enough with cuts to our pensions and wages.

The Greek people must rise up and take to the streets,

because the situation is only going to get worse.

TRANSLATION: These measures that the government wants to pass are

Vicky Pryce is chief economics adviser at the Centre for Economic

Always good to have you in the studio. Thanks for getting up so

early for this. We were just listening to some of the protesters,

obviously not very happy. The problem outside is we look at that

and say that Greece signed up to this. They voted in favour of

staying in the EU, taking on-board the austerity. All that money that

Greece is getting doesn't come for free. The truth is of course that

not everyone voted for austerity. Quite a lot of the demonstrations

were supported by a Syriza, the ruling party. So there is a bit of

schizophrenia in Greece which is going on still, to this day, in

terms of what do we really want from all these arrangements we have made?

But everyone who has looked at this, the demonstrations were quite

peaceful, there were a few anarchists as usual. But if we had

New Democracy, the hard right party, we would have had paralysis in

Greece. So there is a limit to the Syriza demonstrations we are going

to see. So in some ways what we see is what we get and it is not going

to get much worse. Particular sticking point seems at the moment,

we've got Greece's European peers, other countries, are venting their

frustration that happens is act into slowly on the reforms. -- acting too

slowly. One of the sticking point is that Athens wants to protect those

who want to write off their mortgage debt, and Europe is not going to

have that, surely? It is a problem, many Greeks have just stopped paying

interest on their debt because they simply haven't had the money to do

so. So they have been paying taxes but they have actually not kept up

with their payment schedules. Now the question is, what do you do with

these houses that people have, the primary property is the real issue,

do you lose the primary property as well as a betting else you can't pay

back. And the issue is that these properties that people have are just

not worth an awful lot right now. What will banks do with all those

houses they are going to acquire? It makes no real sense because what is

going to happen as little like what is going on in Ireland. What we

really should be looking at is how to restructure the banks, how to do

something about the bad debts that are there. It hasn't happened. They

have to do something about the banks, 14.5 billion euros within the

next matter of weeks or they are all going to basically closed shop. And

we have seen that. Not all of this ugliness, if you will, and the pain

the Greeks are feeling, are we getting one step closer to the

realisation from the rest of the world that Greece is going to have

to write off some of this debt and we will have to suck it up and cop

it? You have to go through various places, it will not be anything like

as large as people expected. We have just seen the European bank for

restructuring and development saying they will not participate in funding

some of this recapitalisation, which is a sign of adding a bit of trust

and confidence to the whole system. So I think we will be, through

various steps, getting there. But we have to do that first, and then I

think absolutely looking again at the debt situation in Greece is

going to be a must. Always a pleasure in a short and sweet

programme, thank you very much for joining us there.

As you have been hearing, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

continues his trip to the UK on Friday, and is keen to convince

British firms to come and do business in his country.

From Triumph Motorbikes and Costa Coffee to Vodafone and JCB,

some well-known UK names are already operating there, and now

another famous brand is testing the market, trying to cash in

If you break down in the UK, chances are you will call the AA.

It is the biggest roadside assistance company in the country.

It has 14 million customers, and last year it came to the aid of 3.5

million motorists. It has got its sights on a brand-new

market. The roads of India's cities are already pretty congested.

Every month, about 150,000 new cars are sold across India.

But while those vehicles will have warranties and breakdown cover,

it is estimated that more than 20 million cars do not.

And that gap in the market is why the AA has purchased half

We are very excited about the prospects for India.

We think the India market will be three times the size of the UK

There will not be any of the famous yellow trucks

on the road, but you will find its logo on vans belonging to its

new partner. We needed a local partner with local contacts and

local expertise. And we think that the business will benefit from our

experience. They have been going ten years, we have been going for 110

years. We have a lot of knowledge and experience. The technology

appeals. In the drivers tend to only call the firmware problem occurs.

They want customers to pay in advance for breakdown membership.

The customer wants service technicians coming.

They want to deliver the same promise in India and

That is where they can make a difference.

Changing that habit and selling the idea of a recovery service run by

two well-known established brands will determine if the ad venture

In other news: Shares of Swiss agricultural chemicals giant

Syngenta have soared in the US, on reports of a massive takeover bid

According to Bloomberg, Syngenta has rejected

the $42 billion offer by ChemChina, citing regulatory concerns.

It follows a similar offer from US rival Monsanto,

which was withdrawn after Syngenta dismissed it as too low.

which was withdrawn after Syngenta dismissed it as too low.

Could be a bit of a bidding war going on. We will keep across that

and take a quick flash of the markets. The market in Asia down,

commodity prices down, worries about China and US interest rates. All

very ho-hum. Don't forget,

you can get in touch with me