:00:14. > :00:22.More money for India's rule areas as farmers struggle with
:00:23. > :00:27.demonetisation. -- rural areas. Mixed news for Facebook - strong
:00:28. > :00:37.earnings results but loses a court case over the virtual reality
:00:38. > :00:43.business. Hello, everyone, I am glad you can join us for this Thursday
:00:44. > :00:47.edition of Asia Business Report. More government spending on rural
:00:48. > :00:51.areas was a top priority announced by India's Finance Minister in his
:00:52. > :00:55.budget on Wednesday. Farmers were one of the hardest hit by the
:00:56. > :00:59.decision last year to withdraw almost 90% of bank notes in
:01:00. > :01:04.circulation. Our correspondent sent this assessment of the budget from
:01:05. > :01:09.Delhi. It seemed as if India's Finance
:01:10. > :01:15.Minister was in a rush to deliver his fourth budget. And when he
:01:16. > :01:19.finally revealed the contents of his briefcase, it wasn't what most had
:01:20. > :01:25.expected. But he was optimistic about one thing at least... India
:01:26. > :01:28.stands out as a bright spot in the world economic landscape. Three
:01:29. > :01:32.months after banning most of the cash in circulation, the finance
:01:33. > :01:36.minister chose the budget to admit its effects. For the first time, he
:01:37. > :01:40.called it a disruptive reform. But he promised there would be long-term
:01:41. > :01:44.benefits. That included extra income for the government and more cash in
:01:45. > :01:50.the banking system, making it easier for people to get loans. Benefits
:01:51. > :01:56.that would be supplemented by other measures. In an effort to boost
:01:57. > :02:00.demand in domestic spending, especially in rural areas, he
:02:01. > :02:04.announced more farmer loans and crop insurance. He did more to widen the
:02:05. > :02:07.tax net to bring more people into the system but there were almost no
:02:08. > :02:12.incentives for people who were already paying income tax. Small and
:02:13. > :02:17.medium-sized companies which make up 90% of the firms in India were given
:02:18. > :02:22.a boost. Their tax rate was reduced 5%. But for bigger firms there was
:02:23. > :02:27.disappointment. Despite promises of a reduction in the last budget, the
:02:28. > :02:31.high rate of corporate tax remains. Corporate tax rates are going down
:02:32. > :02:34.throughout the world and even in some other western countries they
:02:35. > :02:40.have committed to bringing down the tax rate, so I feel that the capital
:02:41. > :02:46.is going to flow out of India unless we really do something to make it
:02:47. > :02:49.more competitive. For Mr Arun Jaitley, this was a balancing act
:02:50. > :02:53.between the need to put the momentum back into India's growth and at the
:02:54. > :02:59.same time ensure that spending is under control. But all of this was
:03:00. > :03:03.put together without knowing the true effect of the cash ban on the
:03:04. > :03:13.economy. For that, he and the entire nation will have to wait for GDP
:03:14. > :03:18.figures at the end of the month. In other news: making headlines, the UK
:03:19. > :03:24.is a step closer to leaving the EU. MPs voted to allow Theresa May to
:03:25. > :03:29.get the negotiations under way. She promised to trigger Article 50 by
:03:30. > :03:36.the end of March. Amazon plans to schedule 200 flights
:03:37. > :03:39.every day at a cargo hub it is building near Cincinnati. The
:03:40. > :03:44.company announced the airport project earlier this week. The aim
:03:45. > :03:49.is to handle shipping in-house to cut costs and get packages to
:03:50. > :03:54.shoppers faster. The cargo hub is worth $1.5 billion US.
:03:55. > :03:58.Social media giant Facebook reported the latest earnings numbers and
:03:59. > :04:02.revenue was surging over 50% with the company continuing to benefit
:04:03. > :04:08.from the aggressive push into mobile and video. There was bad news for
:04:09. > :04:14.the company. A US jury ordered Facebook and the virtual reality
:04:15. > :04:17.business oculus to pay half $1 billion to accompany accusing it of
:04:18. > :04:22.stealing technology. Asked an analyst if the firm can continue the
:04:23. > :04:26.strong performance. Facebook themselves acknowledged the
:04:27. > :04:32.revenues that they are going to get from advertising through the
:04:33. > :04:35.newsfeed will start the stabilisation over time, so they are
:04:36. > :04:41.looking at other sources of growth, and they are doing a good job on
:04:42. > :04:44.that, from Instagram, video, they have grown advertising revenue
:04:45. > :04:48.substantially and they are investing in other areas, like what they can
:04:49. > :04:53.do with WhatsApp and messenger. But of course everybody also wants to
:04:54. > :04:58.find out about China. When are they likely to make a big splash in the
:04:59. > :05:03.mainland market, if ever? I think that will be a big challenge for
:05:04. > :05:12.Facebook. We know already, you know, Weibo and WeChat have become strong
:05:13. > :05:16.in that. Facebook has a long way to grow to establish itself in China if
:05:17. > :05:20.it gets into China. There are all manner of challenges. They have to
:05:21. > :05:23.look at complying with regulations in China, which are much tighter
:05:24. > :05:27.than anything. So, indeed they have challenges making their way into the
:05:28. > :05:32.Chinese market, so how could they indirectly make money out of the
:05:33. > :05:37.Chinese Internet users? Well, I think, you know, a key thing for
:05:38. > :05:40.them, I mean, obviously if they want everyone in the globe to be
:05:41. > :05:44.connected, and Facebook wants to, you know, get to all of the users,
:05:45. > :05:48.China is a key market, the biggest issue is revenue they can get from
:05:49. > :05:52.China, and there are a lot of Chinese firms that want to get
:05:53. > :05:55.revenues outside of China, and Facebook could be an ideal vehicle
:05:56. > :06:00.for that, so they might start by looking at ways in which they can
:06:01. > :06:03.get revenue from Chinese customers to start with, before starting to
:06:04. > :06:08.build a user base in China. Well, the world's biggest economy will
:06:09. > :06:16.have a new Treasury Secretary, he is Steven Mnuchin and like much of the
:06:17. > :06:20.presidency it has been divisive. Democrats say he is too close to
:06:21. > :06:24.Wall Street whereas the President says it will help America towards
:06:25. > :07:27.growth and prosperity, so what do we know about him? Let's have a look.
:07:28. > :07:33.And staying with the US and the central bank also know as the
:07:34. > :07:37.Federal Reserve decided not to raise the cost of borrowing this around as
:07:38. > :07:40.economist -- and I asked an economist if he expected heights
:07:41. > :07:44.this year. While most of the markets think that they will but they will
:07:45. > :07:47.sit on their hands to find out how the Trump administration will play
:07:48. > :07:51.out. The drum administration, Donald Trump as a candidate, was critical
:07:52. > :07:57.of Janet Yellen and the Fed through the campaign so there is a bit of
:07:58. > :08:02.ten June and I know the Janet Yellen has received anti-Semitic abuse from
:08:03. > :08:07.the right wing supporters, so there is some tension. -- Trump
:08:08. > :08:10.administration. You have Steven Mnuchin and Donald Trump wanting
:08:11. > :08:16.growth and prosperity. When will there start to pump the economy? I
:08:17. > :08:20.think it is interesting. Donald Trump's trade policies have been
:08:21. > :08:23.about American jobs and I think he will make calls for General Motors
:08:24. > :08:27.and American companies to stay in Michigan, to stay in the
:08:28. > :08:30.manufacturing heartland. And he will be able to do this and then
:08:31. > :08:34.basically ride the wave of employment growth that Janet Yellen
:08:35. > :08:39.has been presiding over, so he may not have to even take trade tariffs
:08:40. > :08:45.action against China. He may be able to get enough employment momentum in
:08:46. > :08:49.any case by some of his actions via Twitter. But, Tim, trade is an
:08:50. > :08:59.integral part of the global economy and growth. With him threatening
:09:00. > :09:02.China as a currency manipulator, renegotiating Nafta and of course
:09:03. > :09:06.other bilateral trade agreements, couldn't this also impact growth in
:09:07. > :09:11.the US going forward? Oh, it definitely could, I think, with an
:09:12. > :09:17.isolationist US being bad for the economy and for the American labour
:09:18. > :09:22.market. And I think him ripping up the TPP straightaway is a sign that
:09:23. > :09:26.he would take a very anti- trade view. His view is he is a great
:09:27. > :09:30.negotiator and only he can negotiate trade agreements that have been bad
:09:31. > :09:34.for America but it could have adverse impact on Asia, especially
:09:35. > :09:40.China, and even Australia if there is a trade war. Can Asia still go
:09:41. > :09:44.ahead without the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership? I
:09:45. > :09:47.think something can take its place. I think the Trans-Pacific
:09:48. > :09:51.Partnership was the United States and Japan trying to wrest control of
:09:52. > :09:57.the Asia-Pacific economy back from China. Now, with Donald Trump anti-
:09:58. > :10:00.TPP, as with all of the candidates in the election, including Hillary
:10:01. > :10:05.Clinton and Bernie Sanders, China can actually step in and the
:10:06. > :10:10.regional partnerships and other pacts to have a more assertive role,
:10:11. > :10:12.so it could be that Donald Trump's isolationism will boost Chinese
:10:13. > :10:16.negotiating power in the Asia-Pacific.
:10:17. > :10:23.Let's have a quick look now at how Asia has performed in early trade
:10:24. > :10:26.this Thursday, currently lacklustre, dull, moving sideways, this despite
:10:27. > :10:31.US stocks advancing overnight. Thank you so much for investing your time
:10:32. > :10:37.with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next. Hello.
:10:38. > :10:42.The United States Senate has voted to confirm the former chief
:10:43. > :10:44.executive of the oil giant Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson,
:10:45. > :10:46.as President Trump's Secretary of State.
:10:47. > :10:49.The new American Defence Secretary, James Mattis, is heading