:00:00. > :00:07.YouTube, the daily Telegraph and Guardian making a bit to host the
:00:08. > :00:16.election debates. Now, the business report.
:00:17. > :00:21.The countdown in India, with hours to go until the election results, we
:00:22. > :00:29.hear from one family about their hopes for the newly elected
:00:30. > :00:35.government. Malaysia Airlines use their losses, as the flight for ``
:00:36. > :00:43.as the search for the missing flight continues. Welcome to today's
:00:44. > :00:51.programme. After months of expectations and six weeks of
:00:52. > :00:57.voting, today we will find out the biggest election on Earth 's
:00:58. > :01:02.results. Our India business reporter is in mum by as the city wakes up to
:01:03. > :01:11.what will undoubtedly be a very exciting day in politics. `` Mumbai.
:01:12. > :01:17.It will be. People are getting out and about today. One hour from now,
:01:18. > :01:22.at 8am local time, the counting of votes will begin. It is more than
:01:23. > :01:25.550 million votes that need to be counted across the country. It will
:01:26. > :01:31.be a while before we start seeing trends and who is leading in this
:01:32. > :01:35.election. One place we could see an impact quickly is literally down the
:01:36. > :01:41.road from where I am now. That is that the stock exchange. That has
:01:42. > :01:52.seen soaring results in anticipation from this election. Given the things
:01:53. > :01:57.that have happened in India over the past two years and the economic
:01:58. > :02:01.slowdown, I can tell you that it was mostly economic issues at the heart
:02:02. > :02:04.of the election. In fact, visited a family here to find out what it is
:02:05. > :02:11.that they want from the new government that comes to power
:02:12. > :02:19.today. This family are a middle`class
:02:20. > :02:24.family in Mumbai, and they have actively been following the
:02:25. > :02:27.election. Politics has been passionately discussed and hotly
:02:28. > :02:33.debated in this household. I am sure you have seen about the elections. I
:02:34. > :02:38.am hoping this level of anticipation continues among ordinary citizens. I
:02:39. > :02:42.have never seen this includes jazz before. This man runs a small
:02:43. > :02:48.factory on the outskirts of the city. `` such interviews years. He
:02:49. > :02:57.expects the next government will make it easier to do business.
:02:58. > :03:02.``enthusiasm. I expect the new government to come to power this
:03:03. > :03:10.financial year. That is the expectation that we have. His wife
:03:11. > :03:14.has faced different struggles. You are the person who runs this house
:03:15. > :03:19.and buys the food required to feed the family. How has your budget
:03:20. > :03:25.changed over the past year? It has tremendously increased. Three
:03:26. > :03:36.times, four times, and you can see that. Milk has touched 63 rupees a
:03:37. > :03:40.litre. We have to watch our spending. She wants a government who
:03:41. > :03:50.can stabilise food prices or bring them down altogether. This election
:03:51. > :03:54.depends on how youngsters have voted. This couple are under the age
:03:55. > :04:01.of 25 and are both first`time voters. I would like to see change.
:04:02. > :04:10.I want to be proud that I am from India. If it is just India `based,
:04:11. > :04:15.it will be looked down upon. Quality should be assured. It depends on the
:04:16. > :04:20.overall image of the country. They are pretty high expectations.
:04:21. > :04:25.Families will be watching the new government closely. So they can see
:04:26. > :04:29.if they can fulfil the promises they made to India's people during the
:04:30. > :04:32.election campaign. We heard you talking to families in that report,
:04:33. > :04:35.what about businesses? You have been speaking to them as
:04:36. > :04:45.well, what have they been telling you? The man who was widely
:04:46. > :04:50.expected, according to the polls here, expected to be the prime
:04:51. > :04:55.minister, has been heading the western state for more than 12 years
:04:56. > :05:00.now. His track record in that state has been his main page in the
:05:01. > :05:05.election. Most of the businesses we have spoken to this year believe
:05:06. > :05:09.that he has done a good job in that state and hope he can replicate that
:05:10. > :05:14.kind of success across the country if he does become the Prime
:05:15. > :05:18.Minister. India has seen some tough times in the past two years,
:05:19. > :05:21.especially in manufacturing, businesses have struggled. Most say
:05:22. > :05:24.that the government has not made it easy for them. There is a lot of red
:05:25. > :05:28.tape involved to get any kind of licenses. Even paying taxes is hard.
:05:29. > :05:35.They hope that this man can make it easier. There is anticipation that
:05:36. > :05:41.if he comes to power, you could help deliver. The man I spoke to in that
:05:42. > :05:50.video said that he expects turnover to double by the end of the year. ``
:05:51. > :05:56.he could help. Thank you very much, and interesting and exciting day for
:05:57. > :06:03.you and the team in India. In other news, we have fast food workers in
:06:04. > :06:07.the United States, they have joined counterparts in Indonesia, Japan,
:06:08. > :06:09.and Brazil to stage a global walkout protest about wages and working
:06:10. > :06:16.conditions. Organisers have planned 230 protests
:06:17. > :06:20.in 33 different countries. General Motors has announced the recall of a
:06:21. > :06:23.further 2.7 million vehicles, most of them have brake light defects.
:06:24. > :06:30.The giant said the recall will affect a number of different models
:06:31. > :06:35.and will cost about $200 million. To Malaysia, and particularly its
:06:36. > :06:41.airline, which saw the net loss widened by 59% in the first quarter,
:06:42. > :06:45.to $138 million. The numbers come amid falling sales from China after
:06:46. > :06:50.the still unexplained loss of flight MH 370. It is the fifth quarterly
:06:51. > :06:54.net loss for Malaysia Airlines who have struggled with high fuel prices
:06:55. > :07:02.and operational costs. The search for the missing flight continues in
:07:03. > :07:08.waters north`west of the Australian city of Perth. Our correspondent is
:07:09. > :07:13.in quantum per and she says the airline has braced itself for a
:07:14. > :07:25.challenging year `` quantum per. There has been increased competition
:07:26. > :07:30.in the region here ``Kuala Lumpar. There has been a drop in Chinese
:07:31. > :07:33.tourists which is significant, the Chinese roots are not as popular,
:07:34. > :07:44.despite falling prices. You have to remember that 200 missing passengers
:07:45. > :07:52.were Chinese on that flight. There have been criticisms as to how the
:07:53. > :07:59.situation has been handled. And how information has been given out, why
:08:00. > :08:03.the plane has been missing for so long, and hours before they even
:08:04. > :08:11.initiated the search in the first place. There has been a lot of anger
:08:12. > :08:14.in that area. And the reason why there have been so many losses.
:08:15. > :08:21.Liquefied national gas `` natural Liquefied national gas `` natural
:08:22. > :08:27.gas for transport is a key energy source across Asia. Japan is one of
:08:28. > :08:32.the main importers. Indonesia and Malaysia have big natural gas
:08:33. > :08:34.reserves and are among the world is big for exporters. They shipped to
:08:35. > :08:46.customers across the region, and increasingly they are looking to use
:08:47. > :08:50.LNG for domestic consumption. Indonesia has 17,000 islands, and
:08:51. > :09:04.the answer is small`scale processing plants that can take the gas to
:09:05. > :09:10.other ports. The main purpose for the expansion is for domestic
:09:11. > :09:14.purposes here in Singapore, and with the pew to a future market coming
:09:15. > :09:28.up, and if we look at ships around us here. Many ships will use LNG as
:09:29. > :09:34.a fuel, there is the possibility of small`scale deliveries to islands
:09:35. > :09:38.and archipelagoes within a 1200 kilometre radius. How much demand is
:09:39. > :09:41.therefore LNG for domestic use in Southeast Asia? What are the plans
:09:42. > :09:44.for expansion? The issue has only started to come to light in Malaysia
:09:45. > :09:50.and Indonesia in recent times. They were major exporters of LNG and
:09:51. > :09:58.still are, in the North Asian market in Japan and Korea, but because of
:09:59. > :10:03.the expansion of these countries in domestic requirements for power,
:10:04. > :10:10.they are now beginning to consider diverging a proportion of the LNG
:10:11. > :10:13.produced to the islands within the area. Your company has been involved
:10:14. > :10:19.in the construction of a number of big plants. How do you go about
:10:20. > :10:23.scaling them down? Originally, the plans were developed in the US in
:10:24. > :10:31.the 1970s. It never got off the ground, because pricing of gas went
:10:32. > :10:33.wrong, pricing of LNG went wrong, and it was abandoned. The actual
:10:34. > :10:39.thought was put in there, so we understand the economics and how to
:10:40. > :10:46.take it down to smaller scale units. Funnily enough, although it seems
:10:47. > :10:56.counterintuitive, smaller units can be more efficient in terms of costs
:10:57. > :10:59.than larger units. Because they are more simple and easy to operate and
:11:00. > :11:03.easier to mass manufacture. We have seen that in other locations where
:11:04. > :11:10.this occurs in China. Paul Sullivan. That is the end of this
:11:11. > :11:14.edition of the business report. The main news stories this hour. After
:11:15. > :11:18.five weeks of voting, counting is due to start of those in India's
:11:19. > :11:19.biggest election.