28/11/2016 Asia Business Report

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

A boost to business. Find out how India's cash crunch led to a jump in

mobile payments. And why Singapore's growing a lifeline to the troubled

oil and sector. Hello and welcome to Asia Business

Report, I'm Sharanjit Leyl. In this first public comments since hydrogen

am in and know notes were withdrawn in India the central bank governor

said he is keeping a close eye on the country's Kasia to Asian. --

cash situation. India's largest digital wallet firm paid TM has seen

a massive boost since the notes were withdrawn. We met its founder and

chief executive and asked what he makes of the government decision.

There's no doubt about it, India is 1 billion plus people and cash is a

primary way to play and we are taking away a significant amount of

that circulation. I believe the pain we are going through right now is

eventually for long-term gain. View of a digital wallet where people can

store muggy online and transact to buy things, what has the response

been like? -- you offer a digital wallet. This was the way to go.

Everyday we are offering 1 million users and this has kicked off a

golden age for these companies in India. What about daily payments

like a vegetable or fruit vendor, normally you would use cash, how do

you convert such payments into a mobile payment? This is the amazing

thing we have seen in this country these days. People in this shop,

they are accepting mobile payments. I will ask for some oranges, and see

what happens. I just opened my app. Click on pay and I'm going to scan

this and I will pay 80 rupees. That's it. This is in urban India,

in the national capital region so it's fairly easy but what about

Harold India where people don't have online or mobile wallets, how do we

convince them to go cashless? -- what about rural India. We have

launched social campaigns and how to do videos in different languages so

it can reach the role person you're talking about. We learned that rural

people were eager to learn about technology. -- rural person. There

are about 10,000 people in the field as we speak to help. What's next?

Right now we're seeing rapid growth, will it stabilise, how will the

company grow? There's a rush at the moment because of the currency

crunch but from their we started to where we are and we should settle

somewhere in between all where we are today because once they have

experienced mobile payments they get hooked because it is convenient, it

is superior and it works great. The chief executive of Pay TM. A long

delayed trading link between the Hong Kong stock and Shenzhen

exchanges will launch on the fifth of December. The decision was made

after finalising all necessary regulatory approvals. The move will

make 800 of China's fastest-growing companies open to foreign investors.

The Singapore government is throwing a lifeline to local companies hurt

by the prolonged slump in oil prices. Marine and offshore

engineering firms can apply for government sponsored loans of up to

$3.5 million and they are more than doubling the cap on loans for major

projects in the industry. Earlier I spoke to John Driscoll, an industry

analyst, to find out if the measures will counter the recent fall in oil

prices. The conventional view is that the price slump will be

prolonged. The offshore Marine services industry, shipyards,

equipment suppliers, service providers have been especially hard

hit in the upstream sector is. The price of oil has collapsed in the

last two years, those companies providing these services to the

industry has seen cutbacks in capital spending and cancellations

of orders -- upstream sector is. -- upstream sectors. This is a

proactive approach. It is not a stimulus. It is more of a financial

assistance programme, bridging loans, internationalisation,

financing schemes to help them weather the storm. I think the

turnaround is going to be prolonged. It's not just support for the

sector, is it? Ultimately this is the Singapore economy being reliant

on this sector, it was the worst performing sector for the last

quarter and we saw GDP contracting partially due to this. Is this a way

to prop up the Singapore economy as well? It's an acknowledgement. This

particular sector, the offshore Marine services sector... Singapore

is a hub. While we are not a major oil producer, we provide this

service to the upstream. We employ many people, there's lots of money

being loaned by banks, the continuing health and survivor

ability of the sector is important and I think that all the businesses

have proactively recognise that. Looking more broadly, OPEC, the

cartel, were due to me today but the meeting has been cancelled because

Saudi Arabia isn't attending. -- recognised that. Where are they in

terms of cohesion with their message? There's been a concerted PR

effort with a number of OPEC and non- OPEC entities to forge a

consensus, to come to an almost cosmetic deal. But when you see

countries ramping up production, and the disclosure by Russia recently

that a freeze is the best you're going to get, there won't be a

cutback, that has undermined the credibility. It's always been an

issue of compliance. John Driscoll speaking to me earlier. The day

after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, has traditionally been the

biggest shopping day on the US calendar but shoppers are also

increasingly buying online and in the run-up to today, cyber Monday,

when retailers offer supposedly more shopping deals, our Asian consumers

hunting for online bargains as well? Pascal Martin is an industry

consultant based in Hong Kong and he told me how this compares to China's

single state. What we know already about Black Friday is that it was a

very successful one in the US with a 21% increase over last year --

singles Day. It was $3.3 billion in just one day. The forecast right now

for cyber Monday is going to be around the same number. In total we

are looking at Black Friday and Cyber Monday at a total of $6.7

billion, which is still very small compared to the $17.8 billion

registered with singles day a few days ago. Is this a reflection of

how well the US economy is doing? What do this year's sales say about

the American economy, our people optimistic and going out to spend?

It seems people are optimistic and there are going shopping. There was

uncertainty before the elections -- they're going shopping. Half of the

US population isn't happy with the election of Donald Trump. There is a

sentiment of stability and probably that Mr Trump will be good for the

US economy, so it's giving people in America a lot of faith the future so

so far the season has been good. It's being reflected in the equity

markets as well, which are continuing to rise. Do you see

things like Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Singles Day, will they

become way more international and will retailers come up with another

day for shoppers to part with their money? Absolutely. We could see that

already in the 11/11 event in China when there was more than 230 regions

represented with thousands of foreign brands trying to use the

single day to interact with Chinese customers. But Black Friday is also

the same thing. Amazon China has made it possible for Chinese

consumers to buy with free shipping from America's doors for a minimum

of 30 US dollars. -- America's stores. This isn't a big amount. In

the meantime Amazon global has been offering the chance to buy directly

from stores in America with a relationship with Bloomingdale's and

Macy's. Pascal Martin speaking earlier. Let's look at the markets

because they have turned around. The Nikkei is sliding after many Danes

of games -- days of. -- gains. We are staying the impact of energy

stocks and commodities stocks leading to a slide in Australia

because, as we will see next, oil prices have been falling. You can

see they are down 2%. That is continuing that slide because of the

concerns of whether OPEC can reach a deal on a production cut. That's it

for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for watching.

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