:00:00. > :00:00.year, by remanding people in custody unnecessarily. They said the over
:00:00. > :00:07.sentencing was adding to prison overcrowding.
:00:08. > :00:16.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news, live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:20.As Thailand releases its latest economic record `` report card, we
:00:21. > :00:25.look at how the bottomline is working under military rule.
:00:26. > :00:32.Recent data shows India is losing visitor numbers. We find out why.
:00:33. > :00:42.Welcome to Asia Business Report. In a short while we will hear whether
:00:43. > :00:48.Thailand's economy has avoided slipping into recession. In the
:00:49. > :00:50.first three months of this year, which saw political chaos and
:00:51. > :00:56.thousands protesting, the economy shrank. All eyes are on what
:00:57. > :00:59.happened in the second quarter up when the military took control of
:01:00. > :01:04.the country in a coup. I spoke earlier to our South East Asia
:01:05. > :01:12.correspondent Jonathan head. All the polls that have been taken suggest
:01:13. > :01:14.that we won't have a second quarter of negative growth. That will be
:01:15. > :01:19.better country in technical recession. That we will perhaps see
:01:20. > :01:25.growth of close to 1%. And annual growth just name `` narrowly in
:01:26. > :01:28.positive territory. These are not by south`east Asia numbers great
:01:29. > :01:32.numbers but they indicate a positive trend. Remember the second quarter,
:01:33. > :01:36.for most of it to the military was not yet in control. It only took
:01:37. > :01:39.over towards the end of the quarter. It is not a test of how the military
:01:40. > :01:43.is doing but it will give it some encouragement, if it believes the
:01:44. > :01:47.trend is positive. It's not just growth going up, there's a small
:01:48. > :01:52.uptake in export growth, although nowhere near the very energetic
:01:53. > :01:57.rates we saw a bout 1.5 years ago. A small bounce back of consumer
:01:58. > :02:01.confidence. But that was very low. If the trend follows these polls, it
:02:02. > :02:05.usually pretty accurate, is encouraging but doesn't solve the
:02:06. > :02:10.fundamental problems here. It will probably give us annual growth of
:02:11. > :02:13.somewhere between 1% and 2% at best. Those aren't good numbers. But at
:02:14. > :02:17.least it's going in the right direction. The generals can say they
:02:18. > :02:22.can build on this and help to repair the damage done over the past year.
:02:23. > :02:25.Indeed, as you've touched on, the military coup has been seen to have
:02:26. > :02:30.stabilised the economic situation somewhat. But how will the economic
:02:31. > :02:37.outlook continued to look under military rule? I think investors are
:02:38. > :02:40.grateful for the stability. Consumers will be, to some degree.
:02:41. > :02:45.There was extreme uncertainty during the many `` many months of political
:02:46. > :02:50.turmoil. In the long`term, it's hard to know what is the most military
:02:51. > :02:55.government with singing this country, or most parts of Asia, for
:02:56. > :02:59.the past 30 years, how they will drive a very complex economy. The
:03:00. > :03:03.generals have revived the enormous infrastructure spending plans of the
:03:04. > :03:06.previous government. In many ways that almost augmented them. We will
:03:07. > :03:12.see a huge amount of government spending. Jonathan Head in Bangkok.
:03:13. > :03:17.In other news from around the region, one of the world's biggest
:03:18. > :03:22.property developers in Shanghai has reported a boost in its first half
:03:23. > :03:25.net profits. Results, despite a dent in the housing market in China and
:03:26. > :03:30.government efforts to cool the sector. The firm's net profit rose
:03:31. > :03:38.56% from the six months ending June. `` rose 6%. Many bolts were in
:03:39. > :03:43.vehicles have been recalled on the mainland due to a problem with the
:03:44. > :03:47.steering systems. China's state owned news agency said the recall
:03:48. > :03:53.could affect more than 80,000 cars made between 2010 and 2012. Aux
:03:54. > :03:58.wagon has a joint`venture with the Chinese auto group. `` Volkswagen.
:03:59. > :04:03.They say they will replace the parts free of charge. Staying with
:04:04. > :04:08.automakers, South Korea's top carmaker and the world's fourth
:04:09. > :04:12.largest is preparing for its 47,000 unionised workers to strike. They
:04:13. > :04:15.voted to take action after talks over wages collapsed last week but
:04:16. > :04:20.it isn't yet clear when they will strike or for how lawn. South
:04:21. > :04:24.Korea's car producers face rental stock workers by employees but it
:04:25. > :04:29.doesn't mean they are immune to the damage that can be done. `` for how
:04:30. > :04:36.long. Earlier I asked about the effect of the strike.
:04:37. > :04:41.There will be quite a bit of damage, especially considering the
:04:42. > :04:45.Korean industry and Korean exports are facing headwinds from both the
:04:46. > :04:56.weakening Japanese yen and a more competitive environment. If the
:04:57. > :05:02.unions' demand is met or diverted, the profits and product of Hyundai
:05:03. > :05:07.will be not so competitive in relation to regional peers. If the
:05:08. > :05:11.unions achieve what they want and get their higher wages, what impact
:05:12. > :05:15.might this have on Korean manufacturing at large? With its
:05:16. > :05:21.drive Korean companies to the heart seek lower manufacturing elsewhere?
:05:22. > :05:27.It's very likely. In fact, there is an ongoing trend of relocation of
:05:28. > :05:32.auto industry from Korea to China and now, with the US manufacturing
:05:33. > :05:38.wage becoming more competitive in relation to the Korean wage rates,
:05:39. > :05:42.it is likely that some of the manufacturing production will be
:05:43. > :05:48.moved to the US, especially if that's going to be sold within the
:05:49. > :05:52.US. For a long while India has admitted
:05:53. > :05:57.it doesn't get as many foreign visitors as it might expect, even in
:05:58. > :06:02.Asia it lacked behind Taiwan and Indonesia. Despite talk of trying to
:06:03. > :06:06.change that, recent data suggest tourist numbers are falling,
:06:07. > :06:13.possibly by as much as 30%. What is going on? In Delhi, our
:06:14. > :06:17.correspondent tells us more. The fatal gang rape of a young
:06:18. > :06:23.student here almost two years ago led to a countrywide protest and it
:06:24. > :06:30.was reported worldwide, adding to an image that India, and especially
:06:31. > :06:35.Delhi, was unsafe for women. The organisation running India's famous
:06:36. > :06:41.monuments says since then they have seen a sharp fall in ticket sales to
:06:42. > :06:46.foreign tourists. Tourism makes up about 7% of the country's GDP, about
:06:47. > :06:51.the same as the IT sector. It is responsible for about 100 million
:06:52. > :06:55.jobs. But official data from last year showed the entire country
:06:56. > :07:00.attracted fewer than 7 million tourists. While cities like London
:07:01. > :07:05.and Bangkok attract twice as much. But experts say not enough is being
:07:06. > :07:10.invested in making tourism here attractive. There are clear
:07:11. > :07:16.infrastructure issues, it is difficult to get to and from places.
:07:17. > :07:23.It's poor connectivity between places, lack of hotel, quality
:07:24. > :07:30.hotel, infrastructure is. And getting to India isn't the easiest.
:07:31. > :07:34.These tourists have chosen India for their holidays. But with competition
:07:35. > :07:40.increasing from countries across the region, encouraging more to do the
:07:41. > :07:43.same is getting harder. And with an economy that is growing at its
:07:44. > :07:51.slowest pace in a decade, India can't afford to lose out on precious
:07:52. > :07:54.tourism dollars. Imagine knowing what you wanted to
:07:55. > :07:59.do from about the age of eight. Well, Matt Grainger did. He started
:08:00. > :08:05.working as a young surfing instructor at 12 before going on to
:08:06. > :08:09.use `` to study sport at university. Now he runs one of Australia's most
:08:10. > :08:18.successful surf schools on Sydney's Manly beach. He told the BBC more
:08:19. > :08:21.about his operations. When we first started we only had about 15
:08:22. > :08:27.surfboards and it was me and another guy. Now I have about 50 staff in
:08:28. > :08:32.the summertime, in the peak `` peak period. We teach people from around
:08:33. > :08:35.the world, local kids, we teach as part of the school curriculum as
:08:36. > :08:40.well. It's turned into this really good business. Who would have
:08:41. > :08:44.thought? At the end of the day, for me, surfing is about having fun,
:08:45. > :08:50.getting stoked. Big wave surfer adrenaline. Let's have fun! We run
:08:51. > :08:56.four session today at Manly. For group lessons. Then we have private
:08:57. > :09:03.lessons from when the sun comes up until the sun goes down. In winter
:09:04. > :09:09.we have about 12 staff. We have all things like trip adviser rating us.
:09:10. > :09:13.It's a big operation in summer. We have other beaches as well. I'm
:09:14. > :09:21.lucky because I loved teaching surfing. I pretty much hand`picked
:09:22. > :09:32.most of my staff and trained them. 'Glee' we do lower ratios for
:09:33. > :09:36.foreigners. `` trained them up. Our core business is foreigners. As
:09:37. > :09:39.we've grown, we taken on local school groups which we don't charge
:09:40. > :09:43.so much because they bring in about 60 kids at once. The seasonal thing
:09:44. > :09:50.is the problem because we have this massive... Bank or bust. So many
:09:51. > :09:59.customers through summer and business driving,
:10:00. > :10:04.onto Alcor staff, keep them in the game. `` our core staff. Rather than
:10:05. > :10:12.shutting down, we keep going. For the people to come and experience
:10:13. > :10:12.the buzz of Manly beach, sand, surf, loose guys, Clearwater, we make it
:10:13. > :10:23.happen. `` blue skies. This is a happen. `` blue skies. This is a
:10:24. > :10:28.Sounds like a great job. That's it for this edition of Asia Business
:10:29. > :10:33.Report. Thanks for watching.