:00:00. > :00:14.during an FA Cup semi`final in 1989. Now on BBC News all the latest
:00:15. > :00:31.business news live from Singapore. Climate change, we look at the
:00:32. > :00:33.latest report and it impact on people's lives and the global
:00:34. > :00:37.economy. Find out why entrepreneurs are choosing to launch start`ups in
:00:38. > :00:43.India. Welcome to Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. The
:00:44. > :00:46.intergovernmental panel on climate change has released its latest
:00:47. > :00:49.report on possible impacts on the sea levels and the weather, not just
:00:50. > :00:52.on the world's environment but the economy as well. The report says
:00:53. > :00:55.climate change could potentially stifle economic expansion and some
:00:56. > :01:02.of the most significant effects will be felt in Asia. Earlier, I spoke
:01:03. > :01:06.with an author. In the global aggregate, the impacts don't strike
:01:07. > :01:16.me as very large. The global aggregate impact is in the order of
:01:17. > :01:19.0.2% of GDP. That is in the global aggregate. For individual countries,
:01:20. > :01:22.like low`lying countries, the impact would be much higher due to the
:01:23. > :01:25.combined pressures of sea level rise, published in pressures and
:01:26. > :01:34.other vulnerabilities in the ecosystems and the economic basis.
:01:35. > :01:37.`` population pressures. It is understood that coastal areas in
:01:38. > :01:44.Asia will be among the worst affected. What kind of impact will
:01:45. > :01:48.it have on the region? It will have a strong impact. Most of the world's
:01:49. > :01:56.most densely populated areas are in Asia, south`eastern and eastern
:01:57. > :01:59.Asia. The impact this will have will very much depend on how society
:02:00. > :02:03.decides to respond to climate change. Both in terms of whether we
:02:04. > :02:06.collectively reduce gas emissions, and therefore reduce the sea level
:02:07. > :02:14.rise rate, but all of the adaptation measures. We can either fortify
:02:15. > :02:17.seawalls or adopt more flexible response mechanisms that ultimately
:02:18. > :02:19.might mean that in some areas are managed strategic relocation of the
:02:20. > :02:27.most vulnerable settlements might be needed. But it always comes down to
:02:28. > :02:30.a local decision`making process, that needs to be connected with
:02:31. > :02:42.national and in some cases international strategies. More signs
:02:43. > :02:46.of a slowdown in Japan, as the latest numbers reveal industrial
:02:47. > :02:53.production falling by more than 2%. That was in February. It reverses an
:02:54. > :02:56.upward trend from the previous three months. The slowdown suggests
:02:57. > :02:59.visitors are placing fewer orders in factories due to slowing demand
:03:00. > :03:05.ahead of a planned sales tax hike. Effective tomorrow, Japan's
:03:06. > :03:08.consumption tax goes up 2%. China's largest privately owned ship builder
:03:09. > :03:13.has posted a loss of $1.4 billion for last year. It is a second
:03:14. > :03:17.straight annual loss for the company. It blamed the losses on
:03:18. > :03:21.declining orders during a downturn in the shipping sector. The company
:03:22. > :03:24.turned to the government for financial help last year and warned
:03:25. > :03:29.it would report a substantial loss due to its conservative sales
:03:30. > :03:32.strategy. In Taipei, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to
:03:33. > :03:34.the streets on Sunday near the presidential palace to protest at
:03:35. > :03:41.government policy which aims to bring the island economically closer
:03:42. > :03:44.to the mainland. The deal would allow service sector companies on
:03:45. > :03:52.both sides to open up in each other's territories. The protest
:03:53. > :03:55.have been going on for two weeks and shows no signs of letting up. In
:03:56. > :03:57.Thailand, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been summoned to
:03:58. > :04:00.appear before the country's national anti`corruption body to date to
:04:01. > :04:05.defend herself against charges of being negligent up with the
:04:06. > :04:08.controversial rice subsidy scheme. The plan paid farmers above market
:04:09. > :04:11.rates for their crops at political opponents allege that the initiative
:04:12. > :04:15.hurt the country's rice reduction industry and fostered corruption. If
:04:16. > :04:18.found guilty, she faces an impeachment in the upper house or a
:04:19. > :04:23.possible five`year ban from politics. Over the weekend, tens of
:04:24. > :04:26.thousands of anti`government protesters were marching through
:04:27. > :04:31.Bangkok in a fresh attempt to unseat the Prime Minister. It was the
:04:32. > :04:34.biggest show of force from the demonstrators since the court ruled
:04:35. > :04:41.earlier this month that February's general poll was invalid. Voting in
:04:42. > :04:43.India begins in over one week and for whichever party comes into
:04:44. > :04:51.power, kickstarting growth will be the biggest challenge. Despite the
:04:52. > :04:56.slowdown over the past couple of years, the number of start`ups in
:04:57. > :05:04.India has been on the rise. And it's not just local entrepreneurs setting
:05:05. > :05:08.up business. This might look like a car park but in fact it is the home
:05:09. > :05:12.of one of the first companies in India that lets you hire a car and
:05:13. > :05:15.then drive it yourself. Unlike most developed countries, until recently
:05:16. > :05:22.anyone wanting to rent a vehicle had to hire a driver as well. But the
:05:23. > :05:29.new alternative is already proving successful. A lot of people thought,
:05:30. > :05:32.these white Americans, they think they are going to come here and
:05:33. > :05:36.start a company. But as soon as things turned tough, they are going
:05:37. > :05:41.to run right back to good job opportunities in San Francisco and
:05:42. > :05:44.New York. There is really no official figure but it is estimated
:05:45. > :05:57.that over one million new small and medium`sized firms are launched in
:05:58. > :06:01.India every year. But at the same time, according to the World Bank,
:06:02. > :06:04.this is one of the toughest races to start a business. Mark's journey in
:06:05. > :06:07.India began six years ago when he and his wife decided to move here
:06:08. > :06:10.from the UK to start branding and corporate communication company.
:06:11. > :06:15.This was the time that the Indian economy was the toast of the world,
:06:16. > :06:19.growing at about 10% annually. But Mark feels this is still the place
:06:20. > :06:22.to do business. I've seen other people who have looked at the same
:06:23. > :06:25.opportunity we've seen, who have come and may be invested 18 months
:06:26. > :06:29.or two years and not been able to make the returns they expected. They
:06:30. > :06:33.say, fine, we will do something else. I think the next 5`10 years
:06:34. > :06:39.could be very exciting. We remain pretty bullish about it. Clearly not
:06:40. > :06:43.without its challenges. And it's not only individuals who are optimistic
:06:44. > :06:46.about start`ups here. But investors as well. Last year, backers put $1.6
:06:47. > :06:54.billion, US, into Indian start`ups with the e`commerce sector most
:06:55. > :07:01.popular. Industry feels this will encourage more expatriots to look at
:07:02. > :07:05.India for new opportunities. It is good to see this reverse kind of
:07:06. > :07:07.migration happening. It's good because you suddenly have very open,
:07:08. > :07:15.very entrepreneurial thinking, where many of us in India don't have that
:07:16. > :07:18.openness of mind. Hats off to them. Making it easier for expatriots to
:07:19. > :07:22.start a business here is something the government has been talking
:07:23. > :07:25.about for a while. And, if that happens, that might tempt more
:07:26. > :07:29.foreigners like Mark to come here, not just to sample the culture and
:07:30. > :07:38.science and food but to have a go at being an Indian entrepreneur. In the
:07:39. > :07:41.movie industry, films about superheroes are as American as Apple
:07:42. > :07:47.pie that new technology means that film production is no longer tied
:07:48. > :07:50.down to Hollywood studios. Movies are becoming a global industry and
:07:51. > :07:52.increasingly Asia is becoming a major hub, especially for
:07:53. > :08:00.postproduction work. I caught up with a director of the Amazing
:08:01. > :08:08.Spider`Man II film. He said some of the postproduction was done in
:08:09. > :08:11.India. I think there is something important with a large movie, you
:08:12. > :08:15.have to appeal to a massive audience. That requires often a
:08:16. > :08:19.pre`existing awareness of the character. But with a character like
:08:20. > :08:25.Spider`Man, there are so many different inflections. It can
:08:26. > :08:31.withstand so many different interpretations, that you can find
:08:32. > :08:39.something new in something familiar. How much of the film production is
:08:40. > :08:45.made in Asia? There are parts of the visual effects that were done in
:08:46. > :09:05.India, in Mumbai. There was a whole team of artists. They worked on the
:09:06. > :09:08.effects. Lucasfilm has opened its studio here. Asian headquarters have
:09:09. > :09:14.been opened for postproduction work in India. What is the prospect of
:09:15. > :09:17.work there? From what I experienced, postproduction has expanded across
:09:18. > :09:19.the globe, because of the way it the into networks and the way
:09:20. > :09:35.information transfers so quick and powerful. You can be working on many
:09:36. > :09:39.different things simultaneously. So much of my post production work has
:09:40. > :09:41.been going on in India, Korea. Given the nature of visual effects,
:09:42. > :09:44.incredibly elaborate and requires thousands of people sometimes, you
:09:45. > :09:48.have to spread that out across the world. What would it take for an
:09:49. > :09:51.Asian film to make it really big in Hollywood? There have been great
:09:52. > :09:59.cinema from Asia. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Asian
:10:00. > :10:05.influence is massive. It goes beyond martial arts films. What Kurosawa
:10:06. > :10:19.was able to achieve has had a profound influence on things like
:10:20. > :10:21.Lucas Films, Stephen Spielberg. All these people paid very close
:10:22. > :10:33.attention to what was happening here. Asian stock markets are mostly
:10:34. > :10:36.trading higher this Monday. News of promising economic data and signs
:10:37. > :10:37.that China will step into support its cooling