:00:17. > :00:25.What does the Indian government have upped its sleeves for the national
:00:26. > :00:31.budget? -- up. All will be named today. And where to from here? The
:00:32. > :00:40.world's financial leaders will meet in Shanghai. . Good morning. It is
:00:41. > :00:49.the start of a brand-new trading week. Officially, India may have the
:00:50. > :00:53.fastest growing economy in the world, but when the Finance Minister
:00:54. > :01:02.delivers the financial budget later it will be a tricky balanced. They
:01:03. > :01:05.will have increased spending to cover the maintenance of the
:01:06. > :01:11.country. Everyone will be waiting and watching when the Finance
:01:12. > :01:24.Minister talks. Will he prioritise fiscal stimulus or a form or capital
:01:25. > :01:27.expenditure? -- or reform. It is in this building behind me, the
:01:28. > :01:35.Parliament, that the budget will be delivered in four hours. It is the
:01:36. > :01:41.big headline in the newspapers. This paper is doing a take on the Oscars
:01:42. > :01:46.in Los Angeles. The Finance Minister is there in a tuxedo holding up an
:01:47. > :01:56.Academy Award. They are asking how me Oscars will he get today? --
:01:57. > :02:01.many. This says he will boost the economy a little bit. It has
:02:02. > :02:05.suffered over the past few years. Consumption and demand has not gone
:02:06. > :02:09.up in the country. Narendra Modi, in a radio address to students
:02:10. > :02:16.yesterday, talked about how this budget would be his big examination.
:02:17. > :02:25.We have asked business leaders what they are expecting. Until private
:02:26. > :02:30.spending or public-private partnerships returned to invest here
:02:31. > :02:37.we expect that from the budget greater fiscal space and spending to
:02:38. > :02:42.drive forward infrastructure projects as was done last year. --
:02:43. > :02:47.return. I hope they resolve the foreign investment. Not just that a
:02:48. > :02:56.policy level but at a more execution level. Money has gone away because
:02:57. > :03:07.the whole process is so tedious, unlike many other countries. We
:03:08. > :03:15.expect mining, which the government has taken on as a big challenge and
:03:16. > :03:24.executed, I think that should have realisation. They have the building
:03:25. > :03:31.blocks. They should start. The GST bill gets passed by the government
:03:32. > :03:37.and the Upper House. We do away with the plethora of different taxation.
:03:38. > :03:43.I hope the Indian budget would have provisions to spur the Indian
:03:44. > :03:48.economy We are seeing so much growth in technology, start-ups,
:03:49. > :03:54.entrepreneurs that are making a splash on the blood stage, that will
:03:55. > :03:58.require funding. -- world stage. Potentially putting together
:03:59. > :04:05.regional funds and computer education for the masses. They can
:04:06. > :04:08.help with that. The big question is, does Narendra Modi have the
:04:09. > :04:17.political capital to push forward with this wish list from the
:04:18. > :04:22.business community? That is right. Some of the promises they have made
:04:23. > :04:26.during that election in 2014, we haven't seen many of them being
:04:27. > :04:31.delivered until now. Especially a major tax reform that would simplify
:04:32. > :04:35.tax across the country. But in the budget today, what will be the big
:04:36. > :04:39.challenge facing the Finance Minister is how much will the
:04:40. > :04:47.government reach out into its own pocket? In 2015, when India became
:04:48. > :04:51.the fast growing major economy at over 7.5% growth, that was driven
:04:52. > :04:58.primarily by government spending. We haven't seen private spending
:04:59. > :05:00.takeoff that much. To push the economy forward that is what the
:05:01. > :05:05.government needs to do. At expenses will go up this year. There is a
:05:06. > :05:10.once in a decade hike for government employees coming in this year so
:05:11. > :05:16.they will need $16 billion for that. The industry will expect some
:05:17. > :05:21.benefits. Tax exemptions, for example. With regional elections
:05:22. > :05:28.coming up, people will be watching for tax benefit. People will be
:05:29. > :05:34.watching how they raise money. -- benefits. Thank you. She will cover
:05:35. > :05:41.the budget throughout the day from Delhi. To find out more about the
:05:42. > :05:48.budget... Sorry, moving on. A key measure of sentiment among South
:05:49. > :05:55.Korea's manufacturers has dropped to its lowest level since 2009. The
:05:56. > :05:59.index for March dropped to 65. A reading below 100 indicates the
:06:00. > :06:04.number of companies expecting deterioration outnumbers those
:06:05. > :06:07.seeing improvement. Industrial production in Japan has risen for
:06:08. > :06:13.the first time in three. That is according to government data just
:06:14. > :06:22.out. -- three months. It is expected to be a temporary rise. Retail sales
:06:23. > :06:25.in January fell by .1%. The faltering state of the world economy
:06:26. > :06:30.and tabular markets dominated discussion in Shanghai this
:06:31. > :06:38.weekend. The finance ministers and central bank workers merged to
:06:39. > :06:40.discuss. Almost all countries are suffering as a result of China's
:06:41. > :06:46.economic slowdown, not least Australia. We asked the Australia
:06:47. > :07:00.and Treasurer Scott Morrison how worried he was. What is happening is
:07:01. > :07:05.not an anticipated. -- unanticipated. Their growth, even if
:07:06. > :07:16.slower, is not a bad thing for Australia. At the same time, we are
:07:17. > :07:20.seeing growing areas of our economy now, the health sector, the services
:07:21. > :07:26.sector, they are growing and connecting to the growing consumer
:07:27. > :07:32.economy in China. None of this is a great shock to us. We deal with this
:07:33. > :07:38.all the time. Yeah, there is a transition, but that is the new norm
:07:39. > :07:42.in the economy. We and China are going through a transition and they
:07:43. > :07:46.are synced. We are optimistic. How do you rate the Chinese government
:07:47. > :07:53.and their ability to deal with volatility? How confident is your
:07:54. > :07:59.government they can deal with it? They will deal with their challenges
:08:00. > :08:05.how they see fit. How do you rate their capabilities? We cannot expect
:08:06. > :08:12.them to behave in the same way that we do. Whether it is the Australian
:08:13. > :08:15.reserve bank or the central bank. I think that they have other levers to
:08:16. > :08:21.pull. The banking sector is completely different to ours. We can
:08:22. > :08:26.have false expectations about how they respond. What I am convinced of
:08:27. > :08:30.his where they are heading, and that is that they are committed to
:08:31. > :08:34.growth. There will be bumps along the road in terms of how they manage
:08:35. > :08:39.these issues, they have exchange rate and capital flowed issues. They
:08:40. > :08:49.are dealing with it in a Chinese way. -- flow. But we are patient and
:08:50. > :08:55.respectful. Scott Morrison. Let's return to the lead story. The budget
:08:56. > :09:04.and India which will be revealed today. -- in. It is a bit tricky.
:09:05. > :09:08.Expectations are high. From our perspective, sitting here in Asia,
:09:09. > :09:16.what we expect the government should focus on is three things, one is,
:09:17. > :09:20.yeah, balancing out the fiscal stimulus, prioritising capital
:09:21. > :09:26.expenditure is absolutely needed, at the same time, their hands are tied
:09:27. > :09:31.when it comes to expenses going up because of these impending wage and
:09:32. > :09:39.pension hikes. From a sector perspective it is really important
:09:40. > :09:42.that they address how to revive the rural economy, agriculture, the
:09:43. > :09:48.state of the farmers in India, that is likely to be in focus again. And
:09:49. > :09:54.it is also about providing a clear roadmap for policy reform.
:09:55. > :10:04.Implementation of the much talked about GST bill and rebalancing
:10:05. > :10:10.public sector economies, that is likely to be a focus. Revising the
:10:11. > :10:15.rural economy so badly affected by recent monsoons. If they do this it
:10:16. > :10:20.will boost demand in general by having a multiplier effect.
:10:21. > :10:33.Absolutely. What we really need to see is demand improved in the rural
:10:34. > :10:40.economy. For example, in the auto industry, two wheeler sales is down
:10:41. > :10:44.when it should be up. Thank you so much for investing your time with
:10:45. > :10:45.us. I am Rico Hizon. Goodbye for