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Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore. | :00:00. | :00:14. | |
Laying the tracks. India and Japan are to sign a landmark deal on a | :00:15. | :00:24. | |
high speed railways for the subcontinent. And online giant | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
Alibaba looks set to purchase Hong Kong's biggest English-language | :00:31. | :00:40. | |
newspaper. Good morning. Glad you could join us for this Friday | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
edition of Asia Business Report. Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
is kicking off his visit to India later today where he will meet with | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
his counterpart, Narendra Modi. Both sides are expected to sign a nearly | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
$15 billion deal that will see Japan built India's first high-speed train | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
system. Now we go to our correspondent. Everyday 23 million | :01:03. | :01:10. | |
people use India's rail network, many of those travelling long | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
distance. Tickets often need bookings months in advance for the | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
privilege of travelling in these carriages which are usually old and | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
fairly rickety. The Narendra Modi government has said that by 2020, it | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
will invest $137 billion in the nation's vast but antiquated railway | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
system. Japan is expected to lend India more than half the cost of the | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
project, about $8 billion at very low interest rates and it is | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
Japanese technology. Expect Japanese firms to win the tenders to build | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
the trains and a big track although they will be under pressure to | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
create jobs here as well. But in just seven years, a service could be | :01:52. | :02:01. | |
running a 500 kilometre journey which could be undertaken in just | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
two Mac. So why this route and not Mumbai to Delhi? It is true that | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
this is the capital of the state that Narendra Modi was in charge of | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
but it is also one of the seven high-speed rail corridors which | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
India hopes to use to build its economy with new cities and | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
industrial zones along the way, that is Ahmadabad. Japanese companies are | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
not the only ones that are going to benefit from these promises. Last | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
month, General Electric and a French company won lucrative million-dollar | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
contracts to supply new locomotives to India's Railways. All these | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
improvements are still a little way off but with these kind of | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
infrastructure investments, they are what Narendra Modi needs to keep | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
India's economic growth on track. Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
expected to announce its purchase of a controlling stake in Hong Kong's | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
South China morning Post later today. The deal has been rumoured | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
for weeks and this will mark yet another media acquisition for the | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
e-commerce company but this transaction is likely to be one of | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
its most controversial. Now we go to our correspondent. The South China | :03:13. | :03:22. | |
Morning Post has been around for more than 100 years and once upon a | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
time, it was known for its stellar coverage of China. Now those glory | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
days have dimmed a lot but despite that, particularly for English | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
speakers in Hong Kong, it is still considered to be required morning | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
reading. The paper has a rather modest readership of 350,000 | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
people. Its influence is greater than that figure suggests. Every | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
month is website attracts 4 million unique visitors, two thirds of them | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
come from outside Hong Kong and China. They are mainly non- Chinese | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
speakers who are looking for insight into the China story. Employees say | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
the paper has become much less hard-hitting after being bought by | :04:10. | :04:12. | |
Malaysian-Chinese billionaire Robert Kwok in 1993. This former editor | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
says he is even more concerned now that there is a new owner. So what | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
exactly is the worry? Surely Alibaba would like to achieve success in the | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
media business by making sure that it's newspaper is still credible? | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
The chairman of Alibaba is very close to the party leadership and | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
moreover, he is a beneficiary of the tiny system so he won't want his | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
paper to criticize the Chinese political system. There is a | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
national policy to enhance control over Hong Kong by boosting mainland | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
Chinese ownership of Hong Kong media and this could have a bad impact on | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
freedom of expression, including integrity and the Chinese morning | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
Post -- South China morning Post. This has produced a new generation | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
of online news sites including the Hong Kong Free Press whose founder | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
expects to benefit from the deal. What is the impact on independent | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
media? Whenever we have questions about credibility in Hong Kong | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
press, we have seen a surge in support and traffic and donations at | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
Hong Kong Free Press. It may be bad for Hong Kong, but we benefit in the | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
long run. Over the past year, Alibaba has purchased many media | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
companies but this one is the most controversial and the details most | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
carefully scrutinized. Car sales are revving up in China. The latest | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
figures show new tax breaks may have pulled the industry back from the | :05:46. | :05:47. | |
brink of the terrible year. Now we go to our correspondent. Just hours | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
after Chinese authorities lifted the red alert came confirmation that the | :05:54. | :06:01. | |
number of vehicles on the road is only increasing. New figures from | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
the organisation representing Chinese car manufacturers showed two | :06:08. | :06:09. | |
and a half million vehicles were sold in November, a jump of 20% from | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
a year ago. That is because in China's car market, the only breaks | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
that really matter are tax breaks. Sales started accelerating two | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
months ago when the government brought in measures to boost its | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
weak auto market. Authorities cut taxes on new small cars in half | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
following concerned growth in vehicle sales had been slowing for | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
five years. That is a great concern because as the industry has planned | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
for sales higher than the current rate of market demand, their | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
inventory problems have arisen. In order to get the inventory out of | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
the channel and into the hands of the customers, you need a | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
consumption tax which will give people the benefit of a lower | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
purchase price and that has actually helped sales. Yet cars are part of | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
the reason that China is choking on pollution. During the capital's | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
recent three-day red alert for small group, the government ordered cars | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
off the road according to odd and even number plates. But there are | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
exception to the rule. Electric cars are exempt from any restrictions and | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
it seems that is why many people are looking to purchase them. | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
TRANSLATION: I'm considering purchasing one because Beijing is | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
introducing new policies to limit cars on smoggy days but there are no | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
limitations on electric cars. Some dealers say inquiries have risen 10% | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
in the last few days, which could prove to be a big plus for them and | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
the environment as well. There are millions of devout Muslim Hindus | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
across India but with life becoming hectic, it is not always possible | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
for them to get to the temple to perform their rituals, so what do | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
they do? One Indian company thinks it has the answer. | :08:06. | :08:28. | |
We started the service to facilitate the performance of rituals in Hindu | :08:29. | :08:42. | |
temples all over India. We got this idea because the people who didn't | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
have access to be especially for nonresident Indians, students, and | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
Louise, those from India who have travelled abroad -- employees. We | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
have a website, you select a temple where you want to go and choose the | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
date you would like. Then you pay and it gets done. | :09:05. | :09:22. | |
Many of these temples will do streaming video so you can see the | :09:23. | :09:33. | |
service online. You are quite connected to what is happening in | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
the temple, so it feels like you are virtually there and participating in | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
a way and the gap it's kind of filled in is being able to offer a | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
prayer on a particular day, a special day either in terms of | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
family or in terms of a festival and that is actually quite | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
heartwarming. And for more on this story, watch this programme over the | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
weekend at BBC World News. Here's a quick look at the markets. Currently | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
we are seeing a relief rally across the board this Friday after US | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
stocks snapped a 3-game losing streak despite another slide in oil | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
prices. -- read a. Hong Kong, Japan and Australia are all in positive | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
territory. 4,000 migrants are arriving | :10:28. | :10:41. | |
in Greece every day | :10:42. | :10:46. |