:00:00. > :00:00.bid to host a pre`election debate, for the upcoming general election
:00:00. > :00:00.next year. Now, it is time for Asia Business
:00:00. > :00:18.Report, hosted by a woman. Countdown in India, with hours to go
:00:19. > :00:26.up until the election results are out, we go live to more by and hear
:00:27. > :00:34.from one family about their hopes for a new government `` Mumbai. And,
:00:35. > :00:41.the search for flight 370 still continues.
:00:42. > :00:46.Welcome to this Friday edition. After months of expectations and six
:00:47. > :00:52.weeks of voting, the day has arrived. We will find out the
:00:53. > :01:00.results of India's election, the biggest honour, with more than
:01:01. > :01:05.people voting. Our reporter is in central Mumbai, where many people
:01:06. > :01:11.have woken up to this interesting day. It will be very politically
:01:12. > :01:21.significant, isn't it? It is. Just down the road from where Ray, ``
:01:22. > :01:24.where I am, is the stock market. Starting on Friday, the markets have
:01:25. > :01:27.been soaring in anticipation of the results. I have some of the
:01:28. > :01:31.financial newspapers today, and that is what they are reflecting. Markets
:01:32. > :01:38.on edge on the eve of election results. Another one is asking
:01:39. > :01:42.whether it will be high noon for Narendra Modi, the man who is
:01:43. > :01:48.expected to be the next PM. His party, the BJP, is expected to win
:01:49. > :01:52.the highest number of seats. Counting would have just about
:01:53. > :01:54.started now, it is 8am local time. We have been travelling across the
:01:55. > :01:59.country during this election, and asking lots of people what has been
:02:00. > :02:03.a big factor on their mind. They have gone out to cast their votes.
:02:04. > :02:07.There have been economic issues at the heart of the election, in fact,
:02:08. > :02:10.I visited a family in Mumbai to ask them what exactly it is they want
:02:11. > :02:22.from the new government. This family are middle`class family
:02:23. > :02:28.in Mumbai, and they have all been actively following the election.
:02:29. > :02:33.Politics has been a topic passionately discussed and hotly
:02:34. > :02:39.debated in this household. I'm sure you have seen many elections. Have
:02:40. > :02:45.they all had this level of anticipation among ordinary
:02:46. > :02:49.citizens? Not at all. I have never seen this kind of enthusiasm any
:02:50. > :02:52.time before. He runs a small factory on the outskirts of the city.
:02:53. > :03:00.India's economic slowdown has hit him hard, but he expect the next
:03:01. > :03:04.government to make it easier. I think things will turn around in
:03:05. > :03:08.this financial year, with new government policies. That is the
:03:09. > :03:18.enthusiasm, the expectation that we have. His wife has faced different
:03:19. > :03:21.struggles. You are the person who runs this house, who buys the food
:03:22. > :03:30.that is required to feed your family. Have you seen your budget
:03:31. > :03:37.change over the last year? It has in `` courageously increased. Threefold
:03:38. > :03:44.or fourfold. It has touched 63 rupees per litre, milk. We have been
:03:45. > :03:47.miserly in spending. What she wants a government that can at least
:03:48. > :03:53.stabilise food prices, if not bring them down altogether. But this
:03:54. > :03:59.election, a lot depends on how youngsters vote. Their son and his
:04:00. > :04:07.fiancee are both under the age of 25. They are both first`time voters.
:04:08. > :04:13.I should feel proud when I say that I am from India. Any kind of
:04:14. > :04:17.business, any kind of company, if it is India based it should not be
:04:18. > :04:26.looked down upon. Quality should be sure. That depends on an overall
:04:27. > :04:29.vision of the country. These are very high expectations, so the new
:04:30. > :04:32.government will be watched closely by families like this, to see if
:04:33. > :04:37.they can fulfil the promises they made to India's people during their
:04:38. > :04:40.election campaign. As we saw in that report, you have
:04:41. > :04:47.been talking to families about what they expect. What about businesses?
:04:48. > :04:51.What had they been telling you? Polling day is usually a holiday in
:04:52. > :04:55.India, but counting day isn't, so people will be making their way to
:04:56. > :05:01.officers, workplaces, to factories. They will have one eye on what the
:05:02. > :05:04.results are like. There is great anticipation about the BJP, and if
:05:05. > :05:09.Narendra Modi comes to power. Their main campaign pitch has been that
:05:10. > :05:13.they are the people who are going to trigger an economic turnaround, and
:05:14. > :05:18.they will pick up the rate of growth. His economic track record in
:05:19. > :05:22.the state of Gujarat has been a selling point all through the
:05:23. > :05:26.speeches he has been making, and many businessmen are buying into it,
:05:27. > :05:30.and they do think that if he comes to power with a clear majority, with
:05:31. > :05:33.a clear mandate, so they don't necessarily have to depend on
:05:34. > :05:37.smaller parties, then perhaps they might be able to do it. That is why
:05:38. > :05:43.there is great enthusiasm within the business community. Best of luck for
:05:44. > :05:46.you and your team. It will undoubtedly be a very busy day for
:05:47. > :05:55.you and a very significant day as well.
:05:56. > :06:02.To Malaysia now, and its beleaguered airline, which saw its loss widened
:06:03. > :06:05.by 59% in the first quarter. The numbers come amid falling sales from
:06:06. > :06:14.China after the still unexplained loss of flight MH370. As the fifth
:06:15. > :06:18.quarterly net loss, the airline has been struggling with operational
:06:19. > :06:26.costs and fuel costs. Flight MH370, which went missing with 278 people
:06:27. > :06:30.on board, is still being searched for over the Indian Ocean. We find
:06:31. > :06:35.out more about the airline and why it is bracing itself for another
:06:36. > :06:42.troubling you. Because of competition in the region, and
:06:43. > :06:50.higher fuel is, and a weekend currency. They also reported a
:06:51. > :06:56.weakened business in their cargo division. You have to remember that
:06:57. > :07:01.two thirds of the passengers on board the missing aircraft were
:07:02. > :07:04.Chinese, and they have been extremely critical, their families
:07:05. > :07:08.have been extremely critical of how the Malaysian government has been
:07:09. > :07:11.handling this case. That is as well as Malaysia Airlines, in terms of
:07:12. > :07:16.how they have been giving out information on the search itself, on
:07:17. > :07:23.why the plane itself went so missing four hours before they even
:07:24. > :07:32.initiated the search `` for several hours.
:07:33. > :07:37.Trade ministers from the Asia`Pacific economic cooperation,
:07:38. > :07:40.or peck, are gathered in a Chinese coastal city. On the agenda is how
:07:41. > :07:45.to form closer bonds and trade partnerships in the region. Also,
:07:46. > :07:48.how to widen the then Bishop of the Trans`Pacific Partnership. Can
:07:49. > :07:54.progress be made given growing tensions in the region? Earlier, I
:07:55. > :07:59.spoke with Alan Bollard, the APEC executive director. I spoke to him
:08:00. > :08:06.about the task that lies ahead. It is hard, but it also put on pressure
:08:07. > :08:11.to make it work, because trade ministers, when they come here, will
:08:12. > :08:16.want to talk about economic ties. The strength of a peck is that it is
:08:17. > :08:25.not really a political negotiation between companies, but a voluntary
:08:26. > :08:30.relationship between companies `` APEC. We want to ensure that we can
:08:31. > :08:35.push ahead, guaranteeing growth. That has been done by the
:08:36. > :08:40.interconnection of economies, not by keeping them apart. Keeping them
:08:41. > :08:45.altogether, global value chain, that is what we will talk about. Talks
:08:46. > :08:49.are due to start today, how challenging will it be to make all
:08:50. > :08:56.of this work was yellow these are complex areas, at what APEC does is
:08:57. > :09:01.some big things, and a whole lot of quite practical, on the ground
:09:02. > :09:06.issues. When you are talking about how to make global value chains work
:09:07. > :09:10.better, they used to be bound together by state trading
:09:11. > :09:15.organisations. Now, that is different, there is intricate global
:09:16. > :09:22.value chains that involve thousands and thousands of small to medium
:09:23. > :09:27.enterprises. There are tensions between different economies, and
:09:28. > :09:29.that still needs to go ahead. Trade ministers know that they wanted to
:09:30. > :09:36.continue so they will be focused on that. That is the executive director
:09:37. > :09:41.of the APEC Secretariat. Fast food workers in the US have joined
:09:42. > :09:47.counterparts in countries including Indonesia, Japan and Brazil to stage
:09:48. > :09:50.a global walkout over wages and working conditions. They have
:09:51. > :09:57.planned protests in 33 countries. General Motors have announced the
:09:58. > :10:01.recall of 230 million vehicles. The carmaking giant said the recall
:10:02. > :10:02.would effect the number of different models and would cost about $200
:10:03. > :10:11.million. We are seeing a lower close that we
:10:12. > :10:16.saw on Wall Street on Thursday filtering into Asian markets. At the
:10:17. > :10:20.moment they are all lower, with the Nikkei down considerably, over 240
:10:21. > :10:26.points. That is mainly due to the strength of the yen. That is
:10:27. > :10:28.negative for exporters, and they are being sold off at the moment. Thank
:10:29. > :10:42.you for watching. Our top stories: After five weeks of
:10:43. > :10:47.voting in India's marathon elections, counting is due to begin
:10:48. > :10:50.shortly. Families in the Turkish town of Soma had been burying their
:10:51. > :10:52.dead from the country's worst ever mining accident.