:00:14. > :00:22.?1 billion, Britain's Finance Minister sets up a credit line to
:00:23. > :00:27.invest in India's infrastructure. Investing for the long`term.
:00:28. > :00:35.Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, we hear their strategy. Thank you
:00:36. > :00:44.for joining us on Asia Business Report. I Rico Hizon. India's new
:00:45. > :00:49.Prime Minister has two of the UK's most senior officials in Delhi.
:00:50. > :00:53.George Osborne and William Hague are visiting to discuss how British
:00:54. > :00:57.companies might benefit from the new government's plans to stimulate the
:00:58. > :01:01.Indian economy. Our economics editor reports from Delhi. Everyone rides
:01:02. > :01:05.on the Delhi Underground, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer ` in
:01:06. > :01:13.India, doing business with the new government here. And at the other
:01:14. > :01:16.end of the line, here is George Osborne again for talks with
:01:17. > :01:18.Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister, whose BJP party won a
:01:19. > :01:25.landslide victory in May's general election. But the British government
:01:26. > :01:29.and Narendra Modi have not always been the best of friends, because of
:01:30. > :01:32.the riots in Gujarat 12 years ago, when he was accused of not doing
:01:33. > :01:36.enough to prevent the brutal massacre of Muslims, and Britain
:01:37. > :01:39.boycotted him. Do you think that Narendra Modi harbours any kind of a
:01:40. > :01:42.grudge against the British? Back in 2002, there were concerns about what
:01:43. > :01:47.would happen, but they were extensively investigated. And this
:01:48. > :01:50.government, this British government, took a decision in 2012, actually
:01:51. > :02:01.ahead of other western nations, to re`establish contact with Narendra
:02:02. > :02:03.Modi, to begin a dialogue. A British company has played an important part
:02:04. > :02:06.developing Delhi's new air traffic control tower and airport, and
:02:07. > :02:09.winning other valuable contracts for Britain to help modernise India is
:02:10. > :02:13.what Mr Osborne and the Foreign Secretary dearly want. But it is not
:02:14. > :02:19.easy. As somebody who has worked here for a long time, what are the
:02:20. > :02:21.pitfalls you have to look out for? I think the pitfalls are dealing with
:02:22. > :02:25.the bureaucracy, and the administrative system that is there.
:02:26. > :02:36.Hopefully they are making the right moves to cut through. To grease the
:02:37. > :02:38.wheels of British business is improving India's infrastructure, Mr
:02:39. > :02:41.Osborne is providing ?1 billion of credit. Have you ever done anything
:02:42. > :02:45.on this scale with any other country? This is the first time we
:02:46. > :02:48.have ever done anything on this scale. This is all about fixing what
:02:49. > :02:52.is not working, as well some other parts of the British economy, which
:02:53. > :02:55.is our exports. And I think as a country we depended too much on
:02:56. > :02:59.exports to the continent of Europe or to North America, you look at a
:03:00. > :03:02.country like India and you see Britain has to be more part of this.
:03:03. > :03:05.It is not all sunshine ` previous Indian governments have promised to
:03:06. > :03:11.modernise India, and have been defeated by the elements. A typical
:03:12. > :03:19.Mumbai monsoon, washing everything clean and new. It is what the Indian
:03:20. > :03:27.people I have spoken to expect of Mr Modi's government, and what he has
:03:28. > :03:35.promised. The world's second most populous country, determined to
:03:36. > :03:42.become richer, maybe with the help and to the benefit of Britain.
:03:43. > :03:46.Indonesians go to the polls to elect a new president, it is down to two
:03:47. > :03:53.candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo. Indonesia, the world's
:03:54. > :03:57.third`largest democracy, has almost 200 million eligible voters. The
:03:58. > :04:01.counting will start just after votes close, which works out to noon local
:04:02. > :04:06.time in the capital of Jakarta. Workers in Greece have begun a 24
:04:07. > :04:11.hour strike in protest at continuing cuts in government spending.
:04:12. > :04:15.Hospitals, tax offices, and archaeological sites are expected to
:04:16. > :04:20.be disrupted by the action. The workers are protesting against
:04:21. > :04:24.austerity measures including a 40% reduction in salaries and pensions.
:04:25. > :04:28.The striker and sides with a visit from Greece's international
:04:29. > :04:38.creditors to check on the country's International progress. The bank and
:04:39. > :04:42.fund are monitoring austerity measures which were a condition for
:04:43. > :04:48.a bailout worth over 300 are in US dollars. A new canal which would
:04:49. > :04:52.link the Atlantic and the Pacific is one step closer to becoming a
:04:53. > :04:57.reality `` $300 billion United States. The project aims to
:04:58. > :05:03.challenge the Panama Canal. The alternative route will pass through
:05:04. > :05:07.Lake Nicaragua, from the Pacific to the Caribbean. Hong Kong company has
:05:08. > :05:13.been granted a 50 year concession to build this channel. Earlier I spoke
:05:14. > :05:18.with a representative from Shipping Australia and asked him what the
:05:19. > :05:23.alternative route will mean for global trade. Shipping is a
:05:24. > :05:26.competitive industry at the moment and the margins are slim. With an
:05:27. > :05:29.extra competitor providing a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific, it
:05:30. > :05:35.should put pressure on prices and make some savings. Savings, how much
:05:36. > :05:40.more economical Willis the? It is hard to say at this stage. When you
:05:41. > :05:44.hear of a $45 million investment to build the canal in the first place
:05:45. > :05:49.come and you know they want a return on investment, you imagine they were
:05:50. > :05:51.becoming too close to the bone. But the additional channel would provide
:05:52. > :06:00.an alternative to shipping companies, hitting them more
:06:01. > :06:03.flexibility in their booking times and would be welcome. The Panama
:06:04. > :06:08.Canal currently has a lot of offal makes and delays ships by 20 to 30
:06:09. > :06:14.hours. This new channel, as you mentioned, will make aspirations
:06:15. > :06:17.more efficient. Yes, the timing is probably not the best for the
:06:18. > :06:22.Nicaragua Canal, because the Panama Canal is being broadened and an
:06:23. > :06:29.extra channel included at the locks. There should be fewer bottlenecks
:06:30. > :06:32.when the expansion is completed. But the Nicaragua Canal has some
:06:33. > :06:38.benefits. For the North Asian trade through to the east coast of USA,
:06:39. > :06:44.there are 500 miles less of steaming to go through the Nicaraguan canal.
:06:45. > :06:48.How important is Asian trade to this new waterway? And how will Asian
:06:49. > :06:53.economies benefit from this new channel? Look, I think this is
:06:54. > :07:00.really a significant than a fit to the Asian trade. For a start, the
:07:01. > :07:05.new channel will be deeper and wider `` significant benefit. Even the
:07:06. > :07:10.expanded Panama Canal would take the largest ships from Brazil back to
:07:11. > :07:17.China and Asia. But the new canal will be able to do so. That will
:07:18. > :07:24.save them many days of steaming. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund
:07:25. > :07:28.says its investments grew at a slower pace last year. In 2013 it
:07:29. > :07:31.what stakes in many sectors but delivered much lower returns to
:07:32. > :07:36.shareholders. Our correspondent has more. One of the world's largest
:07:37. > :07:41.sovereign wealth funds. They have stakes in many different set is and
:07:42. > :07:47.businesses, ranging from Chinese banks to telecommunication firms,
:07:48. > :07:52.Coffey and nuts, and even infant formula. Temasek has its hands in
:07:53. > :07:59.varied set it as a key part of Singapore's economy `` varied
:08:00. > :08:03.sectors. Last year, returns have been hit by exposure to the banking
:08:04. > :08:08.sector in China, where shares have fallen. The heads of its investment
:08:09. > :08:12.division blamed this on short`term market volatility. China, in spite
:08:13. > :08:17.of all the talk, we still see growing at around 7% per year. We do
:08:18. > :08:22.see China offering as attractive returns in the medium term. So
:08:23. > :08:25.really our focus is on a number of check to make sectors in China which
:08:26. > :08:30.we think will benefit from those returns. You can see our investments
:08:31. > :08:35.in the consumer sector and juice companies and food companies, in
:08:36. > :08:40.technology, Ali Barba, so on and so forth. All these companies we think
:08:41. > :08:44.will benefit from the growth of the Chinese economy. You are one of the
:08:45. > :08:49.world's largest sovereign wealth funds, but you returns in 2013
:08:50. > :08:54.underperformed the broader market. Shouldn't you be doing a lot better?
:08:55. > :08:59.Sometimes to get the superior long`term returns, you have to
:09:00. > :09:03.invest at times and accept short`term market volatility. You
:09:04. > :09:06.know, you mentioned that the Chinese market has been depressed for the
:09:07. > :09:09.last year, but that has actually given us opportunities to make
:09:10. > :09:12.high`quality investments. And we think we will generate superior
:09:13. > :09:17.returns for the long`term. So I really don't think one year is the
:09:18. > :09:20.right length to look at us from a performance perspective. If you take
:09:21. > :09:25.five or ten years, we have delivered returns in line with or in excess of
:09:26. > :09:30.our cost of capital. You remain committed to the investment in the
:09:31. > :09:36.controversial company which was bought from the Thai Prime Minister
:09:37. > :09:45.Shinawatra. Lots of political uncertainty in Thailand, any plans
:09:46. > :09:48.to get rid of this stake? Shincorp as an investment, and the underlying
:09:49. > :09:53.company, we are happy with the performance. In an emerging market
:09:54. > :09:56.which builds on our theme of growing middle income population. We have
:09:57. > :09:59.had political uncertainty in the past. What is more important thrust
:10:00. > :10:05.is the operations of the company, Howard is doing, and ultimately,
:10:06. > :10:08.that is what drives longer term returns `` what is important for us
:10:09. > :10:14.is the operations of the company, how it is doing. He is keen to
:10:15. > :10:18.stress that the lower returns are a blip in the bigger picture.
:10:19. > :10:22.Temasek's strategy is to be an investor in it for the long haul. It
:10:23. > :10:26.wants its shareholders to share in that journey. Thank you for
:10:27. > :10:39.investing your time with us. The top stories this hour: Brazil
:10:40. > :10:42.are out of the World Cup. The host nation was humiliated by Germany in
:10:43. > :10:43.the first semi`final, losing