:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:23.Advantaged Asia. Find out how the region could benefit as a trans-
:00:24. > :00:27.Atlantic trade deal faces new hurdles after Brexit. India's
:00:28. > :00:29.growing car industry is helping to tens of thousands of people out of
:00:30. > :00:43.poverty. Good morning Asia, hello world. It
:00:44. > :00:48.is Thursday. Glad you could join us for this edition of Asia Business
:00:49. > :00:52.Report, I am Rico Hizon. The round of talks between the European Union
:00:53. > :00:56.and the US have begun in New York over a massive trade deal called the
:00:57. > :01:00.TTIP. That is short for trans- Atlantic trade and investment
:01:01. > :01:07.partnership. There are now doubts on whether a deal can be pushed
:01:08. > :01:13.through. Here is some background. Plans to create a free trade zone
:01:14. > :01:17.between Europe and America have stirred up controversy from the
:01:18. > :01:21.start. The pact will group together 850 million consumers in the one
:01:22. > :01:27.market. Those in favour say it would offer tens of billions of dollars
:01:28. > :01:32.worth of benefits to both Europe's and America's economy. At sceptics
:01:33. > :01:39.disagreed, saying it would favour big business and lower product
:01:40. > :01:44.safety standards. An earlier I spoke with Debra elms from the Asian trade
:01:45. > :01:51.centre. She says the failed trade outcome will benefit Asia especially
:01:52. > :01:55.China. I asked whether there will be approval of TTIP before the US
:01:56. > :01:59.elections in November? It is to complicated, the gap is too big.
:02:00. > :02:04.There are too many growing doubts on both sides of the Atlantic, so I
:02:05. > :02:08.don't think it can be done. And what would be the repercussions if TTIP
:02:09. > :02:13.is not designed and delivered to the transpacific partnership led by the
:02:14. > :02:20.US? I don't know that there are so many implications for the TPP, the
:02:21. > :02:24.Asia trade agreement, exactly, because I don't think the two
:02:25. > :02:28.unnecessarily linked. But I do think there are implications if TTIP
:02:29. > :02:32.collapses for Asia, which is that the European Union is now freed up
:02:33. > :02:37.to do a lot of other things. And for the EU, I think they will turn their
:02:38. > :02:41.attention to other activities. Chief among them is negotiating a lot of
:02:42. > :02:45.trade agreements here in Asia. And for the transpacific partnership,
:02:46. > :02:50.could it be signed before the presidential polls, or even before
:02:51. > :02:56.the next president, whether it be Clinton or Trump, takes office in
:02:57. > :03:00.January? It will not be signed before the US election, that is for
:03:01. > :03:06.sure but it could be signed between the narrow window between when the
:03:07. > :03:10.election takes place and when the new president takes office, that is
:03:11. > :03:15.called the lame-duck session. If the TPP is not signed then, I think it
:03:16. > :03:18.will be very difficult for the next president to take up very soon.
:03:19. > :03:22.Trump has said he doesn't want it at all, Clinton has said she does not
:03:23. > :03:27.want it either. She is more likely to sign it in the medium term but
:03:28. > :03:32.prospects are not rate. So it will have to come in a while, but
:03:33. > :03:37.hopefully soon -- not great. So how will this benefit Asia, especially
:03:38. > :03:41.China? If the TTIP agreement between the US and EU collapses, then
:03:42. > :03:44.attention will be turned to Asia. They are already negotiating a
:03:45. > :03:48.number of agreements and I think they will speed up especially their
:03:49. > :03:53.bilateral investment treaties talks with China, and they will speed up a
:03:54. > :03:56.lot of negotiations that they have ongoing in Asia, with Indonesia, for
:03:57. > :04:01.example, which just launched last month, with a number of countries in
:04:02. > :04:05.this region, and I think they will prioritise negotiations in Asia in a
:04:06. > :04:10.way that they haven't, because they have been very busy negotiating with
:04:11. > :04:16.Americans. And all this week the BBC is looking at trade and its impact
:04:17. > :04:22.around the world. Today we examine car exports from India, and they
:04:23. > :04:27.have been rising steadily. It is also helping many people out of
:04:28. > :04:33.poverty. This report was sent from the southern city of Chenai. This
:04:34. > :04:42.woman lives with her mother in a small town near Chenmai. -- Chennai.
:04:43. > :04:47.She lived in a village, and after he her father died it was up to her to
:04:48. > :04:51.put food on the table. By night she helps out in the kitchen but today
:04:52. > :04:54.she is a technician at a car factory. She leads a small team
:04:55. > :05:00.here, and can't imagine a life without this job. TRANSLATION: I
:05:01. > :05:04.would have had to work on a farm, and we would have had just enough
:05:05. > :05:08.money for our day-to-day lives. Before I started this job, because
:05:09. > :05:12.we were poor, no one gave us any respect. Now, people say she is
:05:13. > :05:17.working in a big company and making money. In fact, a lot of people
:05:18. > :05:20.asking for jobs for their children as well. Thousands of people are
:05:21. > :05:26.employed at this plant. Each salary earned helps keep the home running.
:05:27. > :05:33.Hundreds of cars are made here every day. They are sold across India, and
:05:34. > :05:38.nearly half of them are exported. This car is being loaded onto a
:05:39. > :05:43.lorry, from where it will be taken to the Chennai nearby on India's
:05:44. > :05:47.eastern coast, to be sold overseas. Cars that are made here are sent to
:05:48. > :05:51.more than 100 countries, and the West is a big market. So a lot of
:05:52. > :05:55.the jobs at the factory depend on exports. Like this carmaker, several
:05:56. > :06:02.other foreign brands have set up shop in Chennai. There are
:06:03. > :06:06.challenges. Inadequate infrastructure, and India's famed
:06:07. > :06:10.bureaucracy. But there are big advantages as well. India is a cost
:06:11. > :06:14.competitive country. That means Labour is relatively cheap compared
:06:15. > :06:17.to other countries, and it also means that we can get parts
:06:18. > :06:24.relatively cheap. So in other words, we can make cars here, the total
:06:25. > :06:28.delivered cost of the vehicles, more competitively than perhaps western
:06:29. > :06:33.Europe or North America or Japan. If more factories open in India, and
:06:34. > :06:39.sell more to the world, the faster it economy will grow. For many of
:06:40. > :06:43.these workers it could be a chance to grow as well. From being the
:06:44. > :06:58.makers of cars to perhaps someday becoming buyers. In other business
:06:59. > :07:02.news, Dutch bank ING will cut 700 jobs in the next five years, the
:07:03. > :07:05.majority of them from their offices in the Netherlands and Belgium. The
:07:06. > :07:09.bank expect to make savings of $1 billion a year. It says it will
:07:10. > :07:13.invest in new technology to deal with the increasing use of digital
:07:14. > :07:21.banking services. The digital world is shaking up. In the past only
:07:22. > :07:25.shareholder reports were required but the internet is making them more
:07:26. > :07:29.accountable to the wider public. A survey by business School revealed
:07:30. > :07:34.80% of chief executives are now on social media. But do they really
:07:35. > :07:39.know how to properly sell themselves, and is it a good idea?
:07:40. > :07:43.We put the question to the chief executive of one of the biggest
:07:44. > :07:48.social advertising platforms. Depends what they do with it. I
:07:49. > :07:51.mean, if they are posting some embarrassing pictures from holidays
:07:52. > :07:54.or getting drunk, probably not. But if they are coming out with
:07:55. > :07:58.intelligent thoughts and articles, or even challenging thoughts and
:07:59. > :08:02.articles, but things that define what they believe in, challenge
:08:03. > :08:06.things they don't believe in, give it reinforces or amplifies what
:08:07. > :08:15.their company does, that is cool. Should CEO is beyond Twitter and
:08:16. > :08:21.Facebook and LinkedIn? Yes. All three? I would probably prioritise
:08:22. > :08:26.Twitter and Facebook in terms of CEO social media. So who in terms of
:08:27. > :08:30.companies has a successful digital strategy or profile? Starbucks have
:08:31. > :08:33.a good approach to every part of social media. Their CEO has really
:08:34. > :08:38.strong values he wants to project, he says here is what we believe in.
:08:39. > :08:43.They have all this PR around guns not being welcomed in Starbucks in
:08:44. > :08:47.America, that is a big debate. Most companies stay clear of it, he has
:08:48. > :08:51.said you can't ring a gun into Starbucks. The CEO believes in it,
:08:52. > :08:55.the company believes in it and they are proud and will tell people about
:08:56. > :08:59.it. Power Asian CEOs doing relative to their global counterparts in
:09:00. > :09:03.selling themselves? To start with, probably not enough. I don't think
:09:04. > :09:07.they are publishing enough. So how can they be seen as the leaders?
:09:08. > :09:11.Because ultimately a lot of people in business but also customers like
:09:12. > :09:17.to read visionary statements. Richard Branson is a good example,
:09:18. > :09:20.Larry Page is a good example, Mark Zuckerberg is a good example. These
:09:21. > :09:24.people challenge the way people think and it is stimulating. So the
:09:25. > :09:29.first thing is, if they have cool ideas, put them down. So that would
:09:30. > :09:33.be one, and probably around that would be travel and speak outside of
:09:34. > :09:37.Asia as well. Go to conferences in the US or Europe or whatever it
:09:38. > :09:41.might be, as opposed to just in Asia, because if you want to be seen
:09:42. > :09:47.as a global company, you want to be seen on the global stage, not just
:09:48. > :09:55.on the Asian stage. That was Ben Legg. Here is a quick look at the
:09:56. > :10:00.markets. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.6% as of the stronger than expected US
:10:01. > :10:04.manufacturing number. That is indeed inspiring Japanese investors to buy
:10:05. > :10:09.into the Japanese stock market. But you have the all ordinaries index
:10:10. > :10:13.down by 22 points, and this is after US stocks slipped on the first
:10:14. > :10:17.trading day of the fourth quarter, led by declines in utilities and
:10:18. > :10:20.real estate companies. The Dow Jones industrial average overnight in the
:10:21. > :10:27.red, with the Dow lower and the NASDAQ listing 11. Thank you so much
:10:28. > :10:29.for investing your time with us. I am Rico Hizon. Sport Today is coming
:10:30. > :10:40.up next. The top stories this hour: One
:10:41. > :10:44.of the worst typhoons in decades barrels towards Japan, with gusts
:10:45. > :10:46.of 300 kilometres per hour. As the misery continues in Aleppo,
:10:47. > :10:50.the United States suspends talks