21/04/2014 Asia Business Report

local council, has resigned after a revelation he has been declared

bankrupt. Tony Caplin was made insolvent in 2012. Now, all the

latest business news live from Singapore.

Heading west, why an increasing number of Chinese companies are

looking to the US for their share sales. And, too expensive. Vietnam's

says it cannot afford the multi`million dollar cost of hosting

the Asian Games. We start with the Chinese firm, Ali

Baba, who are due to file this week their highly anticipated share to

the US. Its online business processes have more transactions

than eBay. We look at why Chinese companies are now looking to the

west. It was just last week when China's

it will end to Twitter, Weibo, made its debut in New York. And in its

first week of trading, the stock shot up 20%. The success of Weibo

has investors even more excited about Alibaba. The Chinese

e`commerce giant has more sales and net income than both Amazon and eBay

combined. It is China's largest internet company, and operates in

the world's largest internet market. Alibaba accounts for 80% of all

Chinese online consumer shopping. But why are Chinese companies

choosing to list in New York instead of Hong Kong? In the case of

Alibaba, much of it has to do with ownership structure. American rules

allow for executives to retain much more control of their company.

Alibaba's successes have even lifted some US companies. Yahoo! Has

benefited from a 24% stake in Alibaba, and it has been boosting

Yahoo! 's shares, which have gone up by more than 40% this year. It is

all the more reason why many investors will be watching just how

Alibaba does in the coming months. Via jumpers post a siege in on

Friday to withdraw as the host of the 2013 Asian Games, has again put

the spotlight on the pressure put on countries that bid for sporting

events. The bill was forecast to be several times higher. This year's

games in Korea are expected to top $1 billion.

When you look at how much money they are going to end up spending on the

games, it will be a massive amount, which at this moment I think the

government of Vietnam can't justify to the people. You just said, Korea

will spend over $1 billion, but statements coming out of the last

games, where they spent almost 17 billion, which was spent on

infrastructure, I think at this stage, Vietnam's, which has one of

the worst debts in Asia, they can't justify this kind of expenditure.

Doesn't the infrastructure go on to benefit the country beyond the

games? Yes, but not sporting facilities. It can to become a white

elephant after the games are over. Roads and housing, all of that has a

legacy programme, but sporting facilities, unless you are really

driven, otherwise it will be sitting there for nothing. We know this is a

crucial year, with the football World Cup coming up in Brazil, also

a lot of complaints about whether they are up to scratch. You think it

is important for countries to host games like this? Does it add

prestige order you think the run ups are more of a problem? It is a

double`edged sword, if you don't do a great job all of the negativity is

amplified. With the help of social media at the moment, instead of

gaining positive publicity, it all becomes negative in the end. This is

something that countries or cities really need to pay attention to, and

we are seeing what is happening in Brazil. In other news, General

Motors plans to invest $12 million in China from this year to 2017 to

build more plants. The US car giant is forecasting a 10% rise in Chinese

sales this year. They made the announcement of the order China show

in Beijing, which opens to the public today. Many of the world's

leading carmakers are at the event, and countries like Peugeot and high

under a expected to unveil new mini SUV models. `` you .

Recent weakness in the Japanese gas market has increased cost. They have

a deficit of $14 billion, which is a record 21 straight months of

deficits. The rising number of people out of work in India is one

reason the economy is a key issue in the country's elections. The picture

is not the same across the country. In the east of India, a strong

manufacturing sector has brought much needed jobs. Is it an example

for others to follow? This man is 24, and comes from a

village 300: that is away from the city he now calls home. His father

is a farmer, but following in those footsteps would have been the

option, he wasn't keen on joining him at the farm. TRANSLATION: For as

long as I can remember, my father has been riding a bicycle.

Recently, I bought him a new motorcycle to make travelling easy

for him. This job pays me well, which has helped in improving our

quality of life. Like him, there are thousands of young people in Tamil

Naidu who have jobs in factories like this. This factory belongs to

Nissan, and there are more than half a dozen other international car

companies that have set up similar factories in the vicinity, property

many to dub Channel nine has the Detroit of South Asia. `` Chennai.

Cars manufactured here are sent to over a hundred companies. ``

countries. Easy access to a port and availability of qualified workers

has made the state an attractive destination. Most companies hire

students from technical training institutes like these. In Tamil

Naidu it is fairly easy for workers to find a job, that is not the case

in most parts of the country. India's unemployment rate has been

rising, especially among low skilled workers which make up the bulk of

India's population. It has also become a hot election issue, with

the Congress Liberal government taking a lot of flak. While it might

be true, is it fair? Experts say the owners are attractive manufacturers,

and it falls on individual states, because it is them who get involved

in the most critical decisions. Land problems, labour laws, and also the

infrastructure problems. But I feel that I'm positive about it, because

states have realised it now, that manufacturing growth is important.

That realisation has to become a reality. Because with 12 million

people entering the Indian workforce every year, only huge growth in

sectors like manufacturing will offer some hope of work for its job

hunters. Getting something for nothing is so

tempting that many people would rather download pirated software

than pay for it, and it is a big issue in this region. A new study by

Microsoft and the national University of Singapore has said

that Asia accounts for nearly half of the world's pirated software. I

asked just how big the problem is. Financial applications of breaches

based on pirated software are devastating for consumers and

software themselves. We now know that it is more prevalent here in

Asia, and the financial consequences of that may be much more

significant. The study we recently released identifies the fact that of

the computers analysed running pirated software, over 60% of them

also running various kinds of spyware, worms, viruses, the kinds

of things that criminals are trying to use to take people's money away,

to steal their identity. Incidence of that can be magnified for sure,

and you can have high piracy rates. In Asia, there are piracy rates at a

north of 85%. As a result, the financial losses from that will be

very significant. Losses are greater in Asia than anywhere else in the

world. That ends this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for

watching. Our top stories: As the recovery

effort enters