09/06/2016 Asia Business Report

Dominic Chappell, has been accused by former BHS bosses

of being "a liar" who had his "fingers in the till."

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Winning streak. The renter may be wraps up his US visit with an

additional visit to American companies from India. -- Narendra

Modi. Is it a sensible and timely option for everyday investors? We

look out watch collecting. -- at. Good morning, Asia. Hello world.

This is Asia Business Report. Thank you for investing your time with us.

India's Prime Minister is wrapping up his two-day visit to the US.

There have been many business deals between the two countries. India is

a hot destination for US firms that see it as a big growing market. We

have more. A rousing welcome for Narendra Modi. The US business

community has been hosting ceremonies like this for him ever

since he became a Prime Minister two years ago. India has become an

important market for firms, including those in the US. A point

that Narendra Modi did not need to highlight. Today, India is a new

engine of global growth. APPLAUSE. A larger Indian economy

has multiple benefits for the world. During his trip, the world's largest

on line retailer, Amazon, announced it would invest $3 billion in India

in addition to the 2 billion it had pumped in earlier to capture a

marketshare in the fastest growing e-commerce market. It isn't just

hands-on. US firms have invested $28 billion in the last 18 months and

another 45 billion is in the pipeline. Strong sales of

smartphones have also made India the second largest market for Internet

users in the world. This is attracting giants like Facebook and

Google and Microsoft to go all out to capture business in the country.

India has young demographics coupled with rising disposable incomes, it

is increasing consumption of everything from smartphones two

cars. Consumption will go up in the years to come. India provides an

opportunity for companies to expand their market. But despite the

promise, doing business with the world's third-largest economy has

many challenges, like poor infrastructure and red tape.

Narendra Modi says it is taking steps to fix these problems.

TRANSLATION: Doing it weekly will be the key to keeping investments

coming in. -- quickly. Nike says it will continue its sponsorship of

tennis superstar Maria Sharapova despite her being banned for two

years for a drugs test being positive. She is appealing against

that two year International Tennis Federation ban. Nike says they will

continue to help her because she did not break the rules. Suzuki, the

chairman, will stay on. There will be casts it executive pay and

bonuses. Last month, as it is said that found discrepancies in its

emissions that denied cheating. Several stores in Hong Kong have

been shut down after a boycott of a company. Over the weekend, one of

the brands in China abruptly cancelled a promotional concert

featuring a singer and actress. This was announced after mainland China's

media mentioned it. She was one of the supporters of the democracy

protest in 2014. Google's company Alphabet has faced investors for the

first time since its big restructuring. It has now separated

its core business, the search engine, from other investments.

Still, Google, has what all shareholders care about, there is a

lot of interest in its Chinese ambitions. It has been a long time

since they pulled out of the mainland. I asked what can Google do

about getting back into the Chinese market? The main issue is this

increasing focus around the Chinese market. With the new holding group,

Alphabet, what they are trying to do is encourage different units to

operate autonomously. They will focus on appliances, life sciences,

research into autonomous cars, a lot of big data activity, so, there will

be a big focus on some of the other businesses, like the Google apps, in

getting into that Chinese market. You have to. You can't neglect that

market. As you say, the Chinese market is key. Google has made no

secret of wanting to re-enter it. They left six years ago. They want

to get back in. It is the largest number of Internet users in the

world. Won't be a struggle to get back init too little, too late? That

is a good question. The key problem they had with the Google search

product was to do with censorship associated with that. There were

issues around hacking in China back in 2010. The company is now much

bigger, one of the world's most highly valued companies, so it is

well positioned to build up in a variety of businesses, not just the

search area, which I doubt will be the focus in the Chinese market.

What is next in the pipeline in terms of innovation? They have a

nest area, home appliances, applications, the using them to do

funky and interesting things that the company is launching. They

understand how data is being used to add value to businesses. They are

focusing on data analytics and using it to help companies add value to

what they are doing We will see focus on that area. They are working

on smart city projects with governments. That will be another

important initiative in the Chinese market. Andrew. Tick tock, they may

be useful for telling the time, Bart watches are also a

multibillion-dollar industry. -- Quenne. Baywatch went for $24

billion last year. --A watch. But our watchers really a sensible

long-term investment? Are they a good investment for the average

person? I went to see one investor to find out more. So many watches,

you will never be stuck in not knowing the time of day. But these

aren't all dairy timepieces. They are Swiss clocks with ordinary tour

extraordinary -- extraordinary pricetag is. This Chinese doctor has

been collecting them since he was 15. They are much more like a

combination... They have the benefit of being a combination of art and

diamonds. Like diamonds, these things are everlasting, they are

indestructible. They have been recovered from sunken ships and they

still work. If you don't have the fear of finding a watch and

getting... You know, selling it within a certain time frame, then

you are very safe. He has several 100 watches, so many, he can't

remember all of them. And he has made millions of. His investment

shows the average returns. This registered growth of 68% over the

last decade. Can other would-be collectors do the same? A watch

retailer, Abe will bring array of watchers to choose from. -- watches.

But where would you start? And what do you watch out for? Watches are

not a good investments generally because they require a lot of

specialist knowledge. The watch market is quite opaque because many

prices are set at auction and you don't know who the buyers and

sellers are. So the price isn't something you can understand.

Because of that, they are generally not a good investment for the

average person. If someone wants to buy one, they should buy what they

like, do their research, and look at their budget. The reality is that if

you aren't buying rare, 1-of-a-kind timepieces, like this doctor, you

may not see big returns. China and other Asian markets are starting to

slow. Wristwatch sales are doing likewise, which is leading to price.

Price falls. So, if you are looking at the market, time may be on your

side. A bit of time for the markets. The Nikkei is opening just a little

bit low despite the fairly good day we saw on Wall Street with the DOW

closing below the 80,000 mark for the first time in ages. It has been

dismal in Japan as well. That is it for me programme. Thank you very

much for watching. See you next time.

India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has been given

the rare honour of addressing a joint session of the US Congress.

Israeli police say two Palestinian gunmen have opened fire in the city

of Tel Aviv, killing at least four