:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:22.We take a closer look at the Finance Minister appointed to put India's
:00:23. > :00:27.economy back on track. Cadbury recalls chocolate in Malaysia after
:00:28. > :00:33.discovering traces of pig DNA. What are the implications of all the
:00:34. > :00:42.brand? Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report. He may have an
:00:43. > :00:48.unenviable job. He is India's new finance minister and the men cast
:00:49. > :00:53.with revitalising India's can be. He is putting economic growth on the
:00:54. > :00:54.top of his list. He is well`known close ally and friend of the new
:00:55. > :01:06.Prime Minister. The new Indian government under the
:01:07. > :01:11.leadership of Narendra Modi has officially taken charge. The man who
:01:12. > :01:16.has been chosen to steer the economy. But who is he? He is a
:01:17. > :01:20.senior and experienced audition. He was the leader of opposition in the
:01:21. > :01:26.upper house of the Indian Parliament last five years. It was also the
:01:27. > :01:31.Minister during the BJP government between 1988 and 2004. He was the
:01:32. > :01:35.Minister for commerce and later in charge of the Law and Justice
:01:36. > :01:39.Department. He is also adequate lawyer. Now as he takes charge of
:01:40. > :01:44.the Finance Ministry, he will take that experience to revive the
:01:45. > :01:52.economy which has been growing at its slowest pace in the last decade.
:01:53. > :01:56.Controlling inflation and high food prices is one of the biggest
:01:57. > :02:00.challenges he faces. This was one of the main reasons the previous
:02:01. > :02:06.government was voted out. There are all be concerned that concerns that
:02:07. > :02:16.food prices could be pushed up again. Foreign investors have stayed
:02:17. > :02:23.away from India in last few years due to policies and tax issues.
:02:24. > :02:28.According to the World Bank, India banks that are ranks 34th. Improving
:02:29. > :02:32.the business climate will be a critical area because that will help
:02:33. > :02:42.in providing the investment cycle which in turn will give a big push
:02:43. > :02:47.for India's economic growth rate. You'll. He has also been even charge
:02:48. > :02:51.of the defence Ministry and that is why many people are wondering, how
:02:52. > :02:56.will he handle two ministries at the same time. He has made it clear that
:02:57. > :03:00.he will be in charge of the defence Ministry only for the time being as
:03:01. > :03:04.a new minister is expected to be appointed in the next four to five
:03:05. > :03:12.weeks. His main job will be the finance ministry.
:03:13. > :03:21.Earlier I spoke to someone from Berkeley 's bank. Given his stature
:03:22. > :03:26.in the party, is effectively the second most important leader after
:03:27. > :03:30.Narendra Modi and clearly, his position in the Cabinet, even though
:03:31. > :03:35.he lost the elections have been secured for a prestigious position.
:03:36. > :03:38.Given that it was expected that he would become the finance minister, I
:03:39. > :03:41.think a lot of preparation would have already been done in the
:03:42. > :03:46.background. At this juncture, what he does bring to the table is
:03:47. > :03:49.vertical will to execute some difficult decisions. That is a key
:03:50. > :03:57.requirement for the job because it is not going to be pleasant over the
:03:58. > :04:01.next couple of years. We know that Arun Jaitley has already met with
:04:02. > :04:04.the central bank governor in India and they have a very tough task
:04:05. > :04:10.ahead of them with high inflation and high interest rates. How will
:04:11. > :04:15.they boost growth is yellow Arun Jaitley has greeted in some good
:04:16. > :04:18.steps. We have already seen inflation numbers coming down at the
:04:19. > :04:24.margin in our forecasts are that inflation will move lower as long as
:04:25. > :04:32.we get a good monsoon. That is the article X Factor. Overall, if there
:04:33. > :04:37.is co`ordination within the finance ministry, if reforms are being
:04:38. > :04:39.undertaken, there is nothing to say that inflation cannot be brought
:04:40. > :04:47.down. That has been the experience of the previous governments.
:04:48. > :04:50.GlaxoSmithKline is under investigation by Britain's serious
:04:51. > :04:58.fraud office. Over its commercial practices. The firm says it will
:04:59. > :05:00.fully cooperate. Earlier this week, Chinese authorities accused staff of
:05:01. > :05:03.bribing government and hospital officials in the country.
:05:04. > :05:09.GlaxoSmithKline refused to comment on whether the investigation was
:05:10. > :05:14.connected to this incident. They are also facing criminal investigation
:05:15. > :05:19.into similar allegations in Poland and rock. Our business reporter in
:05:20. > :05:23.London has more details on what investigation means for
:05:24. > :05:25.GlaxoSmithKline. You'll GlaxoSmithKline is the sixth largest
:05:26. > :05:31.drug company in the world. This is a big hit. Under UK law, it would have
:05:32. > :05:37.jurisdiction to probe in other countries. The US is the same in
:05:38. > :05:41.that respect. You cannot necessarily assume, although the investigation
:05:42. > :05:45.in China is incredibly detailed, and indicates quite a few people, you
:05:46. > :05:48.cannot necessarily assume that what the serious fraud office is doing is
:05:49. > :05:51.looking at this and then we think these practices have been replicated
:05:52. > :05:54.elsewhere. It may be thinking that but we do not have confirmation of
:05:55. > :06:01.that at all and this is fairly early days. It is also worth saying that
:06:02. > :06:05.GlaxoSmithKline has made efforts to overhaul its practices in terms of
:06:06. > :06:10.sales. But these are very widespread and potentially very damaging for
:06:11. > :06:13.GlaxoSmithKline. Cadbury is one of the oldest and
:06:14. > :06:19.most famous chocolate makers in the world. It is suffering a major
:06:20. > :06:24.setback in Malaysia after traces of pig DNA was found in two varieties
:06:25. > :06:29.of its signature chocolate are. They have been removed from shelves
:06:30. > :06:33.across the majority Muslim country. This is how some chocolate lovers
:06:34. > :06:36.reacted. TRANSLATION: I do not want camera any more. I feel disgusted
:06:37. > :06:55.with what we have been consuming. Is not halal. Actions should be
:06:56. > :06:58.taken against Cadbury. On the issue of Cadbury chocolate, as Muslims in
:06:59. > :07:03.Malaysia, we feel we have been deceived because Cadbury is a famous
:07:04. > :07:08.product in Malaysia. A statement to the BBC, Cadbury Malaysia said we
:07:09. > :07:16.are proactively recalling to Cadbury batches.
:07:17. > :07:26.No other country products are affected by
:07:27. > :07:33.Martin role as a partner in the Martin role company forgot I spoke
:07:34. > :07:37.to him earlier and asked what it would take for Cadbury to restore
:07:38. > :07:42.its image in Malaysia. We are learning that the products are being
:07:43. > :07:45.withdrawn. I think there are still some steps ahead in terms of
:07:46. > :07:47.communicating with Malaysian authorities and reassuring the
:07:48. > :07:57.public that this will not happen again. And the chocolate will be
:07:58. > :08:00.clean chocolate. You can't lower the bar, you need to put in a lot of
:08:01. > :08:07.effort so that sales will drop. How long will it take? Three to six
:08:08. > :08:12.months. In half the time if they deal with it well, they will be back
:08:13. > :08:18.on track. E`commerce is on the rise here in Asia and one company
:08:19. > :08:25.benefited from this trend is Lazard. They launched two years ago
:08:26. > :08:31.and are now in six south is it south`east Asian come to this. I
:08:32. > :08:37.asked the executive how the company is faring against tough
:08:38. > :08:41.competitors. The key difference is that we are a
:08:42. > :08:44.local in the market that we have been here for two years now. We have
:08:45. > :08:48.been present in a number of countries and we have running
:08:49. > :08:54.operations in many of those countries. One of the challenges is
:08:55. > :09:01.logistical constraint and payment constraint. Being on the ground
:09:02. > :09:04.allows us to solve these problems. Cash delivery is still one of the
:09:05. > :09:11.biggest payment methods and that can be difficult. How do you see the
:09:12. > :09:14.growth of e`commerce, specifically in the south`east Asian market. It
:09:15. > :09:19.is still well behind the US and China. Growth potential is
:09:20. > :09:29.incredible. You look at China and the developer we have seen their.
:09:30. > :09:36.Five or six years later, we are ready at 8% in South East Asia. We
:09:37. > :09:40.expect the same kind of development because the prerequisites to have
:09:41. > :09:46.online growth such as a lack of off`line retail presence or the
:09:47. > :09:50.growth of mobile giving access to much more people to the Internet art
:09:51. > :09:55.the same here as they have been everywhere else in the region. We
:09:56. > :09:58.are very confident that the so are you leveraging off the growth in
:09:59. > :10:02.mobile and the use of tablets, is that where you see the most amount
:10:03. > :10:06.of growth? If you look at the development over the last six
:10:07. > :10:12.months, traffic is now surpassing 50% on weekends. People can easily
:10:13. > :10:19.access broadband outside of the office. That kind of... It has been
:10:20. > :10:25.a huge driver of business. That have a quick look at the market because
:10:26. > :10:30.they are all inching higher. We thought better economic data in the
:10:31. > :10:31.US. That is it for this addition of Asia Business Report. Banks are
:10:32. > :10:45.watching. `` thanks for watching. President Obama has announced that
:10:46. > :10:51.10,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan next year even after the
:10:52. > :10:54.end of American combat operations. A fire at a rural hospital in South
:10:55. > :10:55.Korea has killed at least 31