:00:14. > :00:22.Slower growth, disappointing trade numbers. We are waiting for the
:00:23. > :00:32.latest inflation figures. We ask if china's economy is under pressure.
:00:33. > :00:39.Dressed in press. A big fresh -- fashion retailer tells us why India
:00:40. > :00:43.is attracting more foreign players. Welcome to Asia Business Report.
:00:44. > :00:50.Glad you could join us. I'm Rico Hizon. We start off with China, with
:00:51. > :00:55.the latest economic numbers and more evidence of slower growth. Today we
:00:56. > :01:00.will find out how fast or slow the rising price has been. Trade figures
:01:01. > :01:09.on Monday showed exports have fallen by nearly 4.5%, compared to one year
:01:10. > :01:20.ago. Exports have fallen for 12 out of the past 13 months. Imports also
:01:21. > :01:26.down by 12.5%. What can we take from these numbers? The base case going
:01:27. > :01:33.into 2016, about china's economy continuing to muddle through,
:01:34. > :01:37.remains in place. We have weak exports, but not much surprise.
:01:38. > :01:45.Inflation is likely to ease. Having said that, consumers are still
:01:46. > :01:52.chugging along. We have to be mindful of the outstanding debt and
:01:53. > :01:56.within the private sector business isn't growing as strongly as we
:01:57. > :02:02.would have liked. Looking at the exporter gives first, the general
:02:03. > :02:08.consensus right now among economists is that Beijing will weaken the
:02:09. > :02:13.currency to try to stimulate it. Is this the way forward? It is likely
:02:14. > :02:17.it will seek some kind of stabilisation but not a dramatic
:02:18. > :02:24.depreciation. If you appreciate the Chinese currency, Chinese consumers
:02:25. > :02:26.lose pricing power. That's what they want, because the consumer is the
:02:27. > :02:37.key driver of overall growth going forward. We also had the G20 summit
:02:38. > :02:43.in Beijing in September. So it is unlikely we will see a dramatic
:02:44. > :02:50.depreciation in the our MP. What about interest rate policies? --
:02:51. > :02:53.RMB. Reserve requirements, we are likely to see a reduction because
:02:54. > :02:59.the Chinese are still tackling money supply growth of 13% this year.
:03:00. > :03:04.Actual cuts in interest rates are a little bit less likely than a cut in
:03:05. > :03:11.triple R and that's because we are looking at inflation. When you look
:03:12. > :03:15.at the second half of the year, from market perspective, you could in
:03:16. > :03:22.fact the China playing catch up to the rest of the world. We are going
:03:23. > :03:26.to have a delay in May and June because of heavy rain and also the
:03:27. > :03:35.debt issue probably isn't as severe as investors think.
:03:36. > :03:39.News Corp is one of the most powerful media companies in the
:03:40. > :03:42.world, with publications like the Wall Street Journal. It has reported
:03:43. > :03:51.a surprise jump in revenue thanks to strong growth. While digital music
:03:52. > :04:03.is good and is growing, it is facing challenges, with News Corp shares
:04:04. > :04:07.now trading in Sydney. There are two major platforms, one on the New York
:04:08. > :04:16.stock exchange and one in Sydney. But not for -- much reaction,
:04:17. > :04:19.despite the data? Yes, the trading of shares he had opened about half
:04:20. > :04:25.an hour ago and I imagine investors will be pretty boosted by this
:04:26. > :04:29.unexpected rise in revenue for News Corp. It certainly wasn't a story
:04:30. > :04:36.earlier this year. Back in May the company reported a net loss of
:04:37. > :04:38.almost 150 million dollars, so the turnaround has been quite
:04:39. > :04:43.significant in a relatively short period of time. The company said in
:04:44. > :04:48.a statement that it was on track to become more global and more digital
:04:49. > :04:52.and if you drill down into the figures it is the digital side of
:04:53. > :04:57.the News Corp business that is adding to this buoyancy. Revenue
:04:58. > :05:04.from digital now makes up almost a quarter of the company's revenue, so
:05:05. > :05:09.for a company founded and run by the Australian-born American vocal group
:05:10. > :05:14.what Murdoch you expect the business to be resilient and ruthless. --
:05:15. > :05:18.Rupert Murdoch. Perhaps that is what lies ahead of this resurgence in its
:05:19. > :05:23.figures. Resurgence, especially in the digital platform, what it seems
:05:24. > :05:30.like less people are reading the hard print. The tabloids and broad
:05:31. > :05:35.streets -- broadsheets. So we are seeing a decline in its print
:05:36. > :05:41.business? It is a tale of two sectors of this huge multinational.
:05:42. > :05:45.On the one hand we have the digital business doing pretty well, on the
:05:46. > :05:51.other side we have the newspaper which isn't doing so well. News Corp
:05:52. > :05:56.owned titles like the Times and the Sunday Times in the UK, the Wall
:05:57. > :06:00.Street Journal. In Australia it's a dominant player in the newspaper
:06:01. > :06:06.sector. But revenue from advertising is falling. Rather ominously in a
:06:07. > :06:11.statement the company did say that its Australian operation good expect
:06:12. > :06:19.further savings in the months to come. Remember, this is a sector
:06:20. > :06:26.that has had ongoing fears about cost-cutting for quite sometime.
:06:27. > :06:31.Thank you so much for the update. A Brazilian playmaker is launching a
:06:32. > :06:37.major programme to cut its workforce and reduce costs. -- plane maker.
:06:38. > :06:43.Staff will be offered voluntary redundancies. The company expects
:06:44. > :06:50.reduced demand for its executive jets this year.
:06:51. > :06:55.Shares in GAP, and America's biggest clothing company, saw a drop in
:06:56. > :07:00.sales of 2% in the three months to July, a bigger fall than analysts
:07:01. > :07:04.expected. American clothing retailers have in struggling to draw
:07:05. > :07:06.in shoppers, who prefer to buy clothes at cheaper, trendy fashion
:07:07. > :07:13.stores. Over to India, where a market worth
:07:14. > :07:20.$500 billion is expecting more foreign players. Swedish fashion
:07:21. > :07:23.chain H was one of the first to enter the country after the
:07:24. > :07:29.government decided to open its markets. We asked what potential
:07:30. > :07:36.ahead of H sees in India. And the government was deciding to allow
:07:37. > :07:40.100% FDI we were happy about that decision and decided to make our
:07:41. > :07:45.application. This happened in February, 2014. Our expansion
:07:46. > :07:50.strategy is to always open in the best locations in the countries, the
:07:51. > :07:53.city, the more, were above. So we are not only looking at the big
:07:54. > :07:59.shopping centres, we also look at smaller shopping centres. And there
:08:00. > :08:05.we are only making the small stores, which corresponds to traffic in the
:08:06. > :08:09.shopping centres. India isn't an easy market to operate in. Many have
:08:10. > :08:14.come with local partners who can help. There are tax structures, or
:08:15. > :08:20.perhaps just finding the right space. It is difficult. Did you find
:08:21. > :08:24.it difficult? I don't feel it is complicated to operate here. We
:08:25. > :08:28.respect India and the laws and we want to comply 100% of the laws that
:08:29. > :08:33.are existing in this market. We started in this business in 1947,
:08:34. > :08:42.when we opened the Birstall, and today we operate in 62 markets. --
:08:43. > :08:45.opened the first store. So we have a great experience of going into the
:08:46. > :08:49.first markets, together with our team in Stockholm. We don't feel it
:08:50. > :08:54.has been difficult. One of the conditions of having stores in the
:08:55. > :08:59.country is you need to source at least 30% locally. Is that really
:09:00. > :09:04.doable? Many other brands have said this is complicated. We have been
:09:05. > :09:10.sourcing for India -- from India for the past 30 years and we don't find
:09:11. > :09:14.it difficult. In 30 years we have created great networks here and they
:09:15. > :09:20.produce fantastic products for us. We are exporting them to all of the
:09:21. > :09:25.other stores in the 62 markets. H has a huge presence online in China
:09:26. > :09:29.and that's done really well for you. How come you aren't opening an
:09:30. > :09:33.e-commerce business in India yet? We are focusing on the brick and mortar
:09:34. > :09:38.stores at the moment. It is true that we have a great online store
:09:39. > :09:44.that we operate in 23 markets. Of course online is important in India.
:09:45. > :09:49.It is over a $2 billion business and is expected to $20 billion by 2020.
:09:50. > :09:55.So of course we are looking to it, but there's no decision that we will
:09:56. > :09:59.start that. Swedish fashion giant H
:10:00. > :10:06.We are keeping an eye on the central bank meeting in Delhi today, one of
:10:07. > :10:10.the last meetings for one of India's more outspoken central bankers. The
:10:11. > :10:14.cost of borrowing is already at its lowest level in five years. If we
:10:15. > :10:19.go, a quick look at the markets. Asia has reopened for trade. Most of
:10:20. > :10:24.them are slightly in positive territory. This is due to stocks
:10:25. > :10:33.sleeping overnight. The US dollar is rallying against the Japanese yen.
:10:34. > :10:35.And there is also a rise in the price of oil. Thank you for
:10:36. > :10:38.investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is coming up
:10:39. > :10:41.next.