:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:23.The European Central Bank cuts rates even further. Is it a sign of things
:00:24. > :00:26.to come in Asia? And how India is looking to private investment for
:00:27. > :00:34.more innovation in its struggling health system.
:00:35. > :00:43.Welcome to Asia Business Report. There's been a major intervention by
:00:44. > :00:48.the ECB to try to revive the eurozone's flagging economies. In a
:00:49. > :00:53.move that surprised the financial markets, the ECB cut three interest
:00:54. > :00:57.rates and announced it was pumping an extra 20 billion euros a month
:00:58. > :01:02.into the system. But some analysts fear it may not be enough to restore
:01:03. > :01:06.growth, as our economics editor explains.
:01:07. > :01:11.The eurozone has an economic problem. It's six? A central bank
:01:12. > :01:15.that wants to print money and offer interest rates so low they are
:01:16. > :01:20.actually negative -- it's fixed. Mario Draghi is the man charged with
:01:21. > :01:25.rescuing those sickly economies that are suffering deflation and slowing
:01:26. > :01:32.growth. It's a fairly long list of measures, and each one of them is
:01:33. > :01:41.very significant and devised to have the maximum impact into boosting the
:01:42. > :01:47.economy and the return to price stability. So we have shown that we
:01:48. > :01:54.are not short of ammunition. So what does that ammunition look like? The
:01:55. > :01:57.ECB cut its three main interest rates to try to stimulate growth.
:01:58. > :02:03.The central bank is so keen to get banks lending again it lowered one
:02:04. > :02:09.of its key rates, the deposit rate, two -0.4%, a negative interest rate
:02:10. > :02:12.which has the effect of charging banks for depositing money.
:02:13. > :02:19.Quantitative easing, the increase in the supply of central bank money to
:02:20. > :02:24.eurozone economies, will be raised to 80 billion euros a month. That's
:02:25. > :02:28.up by 20 billion euros. Mr Draghi also revealed cheap loans to banks
:02:29. > :02:34.will be provided in a concerted effort to rescue ailing eurozone
:02:35. > :02:38.economies. Now, will it work? That's a question I put to a former
:02:39. > :02:43.financial regulator. I'm still not convinced it's going to pull the
:02:44. > :02:47.Euros own out of its medium-term problem of low growth and low
:02:48. > :02:51.inflation, because I think we are literally at the limit of what
:02:52. > :02:56.central banks can achieve by simply reducing interest rates still
:02:57. > :03:01.further and larger cutely operations. Mr Draghi agrees, at
:03:02. > :03:06.least in part, the ECB cannot be a 1-man rescue mission. Some of the
:03:07. > :03:10.problems are that central banks can't do it alone, governments have
:03:11. > :03:14.to do their bit with structural reforms and in some cases fiscal
:03:15. > :03:18.policy as well. For central banks, they can do more, but there are
:03:19. > :03:24.risks associated with some of those policies. Frankfurt, the ECB's home,
:03:25. > :03:29.and the place under scrutiny for unorthodox economic policies that no
:03:30. > :03:34.one is yet sure will actually work. Here in Asia we have recently seen
:03:35. > :03:37.the bank of Japan introducing negative interest rates with that
:03:38. > :03:43.same objective, to help boost growth. They meet again next week.
:03:44. > :03:47.There is also a Fed meeting coming up. What does the ECB decision mean
:03:48. > :03:54.in the wider global context? What pointers can we take for Asian
:03:55. > :03:58.economies? People take a lead from the markets, which viewed it quite
:03:59. > :04:02.negatively. The sense in the market is that we're not really sure if
:04:03. > :04:06.this works and we are worried they seem to be reaching the limits of
:04:07. > :04:11.what they can do with negative rates, maybe therefore the reaction
:04:12. > :04:15.would be slightly negative. The fact Asian central banks and the ECB as
:04:16. > :04:20.well have had to resort to this relatively dramatic measure, what
:04:21. > :04:26.does that say about growth in the world economy? Certainly growth in
:04:27. > :04:29.Europe and Japan isn't great, but it's more that they're worried first
:04:30. > :04:33.about the market volatility earlier in the year and about the
:04:34. > :04:37.persistently low level of inflation. In some ways the rest of
:04:38. > :04:42.Asia doesn't really have to worry about that. The growth rate may not
:04:43. > :04:46.be fabulous but it's reasonably steady, about where it has been for
:04:47. > :04:50.the last few years, and they do have room to loosen policy to support
:04:51. > :04:54.growth if they need to, something lacking in Europe. Looking at Japan,
:04:55. > :04:59.they have shown they have taken rates to negative territory in an
:05:00. > :05:07.attempt to boost growth. What does a country like Japan do, how much
:05:08. > :05:10.further can it get? This is the problem, the markets saw the move
:05:11. > :05:13.for Japan badly, the yen strengthened and if it would have
:05:14. > :05:18.affected it would have weakened. The Bank of Japan has made a huge effort
:05:19. > :05:23.in the past few years. It had some success, the labour market is tight,
:05:24. > :05:28.profitability is good, it is quite an achievement in Japan after 15
:05:29. > :05:31.years of deflation. But it's not really moving fast enough and the
:05:32. > :05:38.Central Bank seems to be running out of ammunition. Absolutely. What are
:05:39. > :05:43.the tools that central banks have? Or do the governments need to step
:05:44. > :05:46.in to fix these problems? The central Bank has made fairly heroic
:05:47. > :05:53.efforts, especially in Japan, in recent years. The structural reform
:05:54. > :05:59.has been lacking, especially in the case of Japan and arguably in Europe
:06:00. > :06:03.as well. So you need more of a concerted approach to try to boost
:06:04. > :06:08.growth, and that's been lacking. Briefly, what will the US Fed do
:06:09. > :06:12.next week? Everybody thinks they will do nothing in terms of interest
:06:13. > :06:16.rates but I think they should raise them, things are picking up, but I
:06:17. > :06:21.think they will hold off until June, maybe April, and it's a signal
:06:22. > :06:27.on how many times they will raise interest rates this year which is
:06:28. > :06:31.important. Apple has accused the US justice
:06:32. > :06:35.department of trying to smear the company over claims the company
:06:36. > :06:39.helps China access iPhones. The accusation was made as part of the
:06:40. > :06:45.San Bernardino shooting case. The FBI wants Apple to help them access
:06:46. > :06:51.the gunmen's phone but the FBI says that Apple's own data says that
:06:52. > :06:57.China asked them for data in the first half of 2015 and Apple
:06:58. > :07:01.produced data 74% of the time. The amount India spends on
:07:02. > :07:06.healthcare compared to the size of its economy is among the lowest in
:07:07. > :07:10.the world, that means private firms are stepping in for those that can
:07:11. > :07:14.afford it. This has inspired a whole host of companies, both big and
:07:15. > :07:19.small, to work on new, innovative services. But how much of a
:07:20. > :07:26.difference can they really make? We went to Bangalore to find out.
:07:27. > :07:30.It may look like a pizza delivery service, but what's actually being
:07:31. > :07:39.brought to people's doorsteps is a sip is dictated the rise for testing
:07:40. > :07:44.eyesight. -- sophisticated. One idea to tackle a complicated problem
:07:45. > :07:48.where hospital visits can be daunting and expensive. Getting ill
:07:49. > :07:53.and paying medical bills has driven more than 60 million putt Indians
:07:54. > :07:57.into poverty each year, so could private businesses be part of the
:07:58. > :08:00.answer? Bringing down costs and bringing more efficient healthcare
:08:01. > :08:07.services to more people. And businesses are getting new
:08:08. > :08:13.inventions into hospitals too, like this monitor used during pregnancy.
:08:14. > :08:17.Smaller unless expensive than the other machines. A mobile phone app
:08:18. > :08:22.can monitor the heartbreak of a fetus when it is strapped on. This
:08:23. > :08:28.is our first product, which we have designed to be used by low skilled
:08:29. > :08:33.health workers, which makes it cost-effective and good for the
:08:34. > :08:39.Indian healthcare scenario. We feel more devices like these need to come
:08:40. > :08:43.because 75% of the major capital equipment, and that equipment, which
:08:44. > :08:47.is imported, is not cost sensitive, designed for India, it is
:08:48. > :08:55.inefficient and not accessible to a lot of Indian cases. And it's not
:08:56. > :08:59.start-ups. Global giants like IBM are also bringing the latest
:09:00. > :09:04.technology here. Within India you need an amplification of a broader
:09:05. > :09:10.problem within healthcare, which is clinicians have very little time to
:09:11. > :09:17.with patients. In the US the ratio of clinicians to patients is 100 to
:09:18. > :09:22.one, in India it is 1600 to one, so the time pressure is greater. If we
:09:23. > :09:26.get the workflow right in India we know it will work anywhere in the
:09:27. > :09:31.world, so it's an exciting opportunity to bring this solution
:09:32. > :09:35.to market within India. Nearly 1 million Indians die every
:09:36. > :09:40.year because of inadequate healthcare facilities. About 700
:09:41. > :09:44.million people have no access to specialist care. And as the country
:09:45. > :09:49.grapples with growing healthcare costs, and a shortage of doctors,
:09:50. > :09:56.technology driven innovation and change is the only hope many Indians
:09:57. > :10:00.have for better medical treatment. Let's take a quick look at the
:10:01. > :10:04.markets. US markets overnight pretty much moved in the same direction as
:10:05. > :10:08.those in Europe where stocks initially surged on the ECB moves to
:10:09. > :10:12.cut interest rates, but fell after the ECB chief said the bank didn't
:10:13. > :10:20.see room for further rate cuts. That having an impact in Asia. Let's have
:10:21. > :10:26.a look at Japan. The Hang Seng down 0.4%. That anxiety and nerve is this
:10:27. > :10:27.likely to be across Asia today. -- nervousness. Thanks for watching.
:10:28. > :10:29.Stay with us.