19/01/2018 Asia Business Report

The latest figures show

that the number of people who went

to their GP with suspected flu

in England rose by 40% in the past

week.

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Uber and SoftBank finally reach a

deal. The Japanese firm is then

largest stakeholder in the firm now.

And is President Trump following

through on his promise to bring jobs

back to the US as he wraps up his

first year in office? Welcome to

Asia Business Report. The deal is

finally sealed. A group of investors

led by the Japanese firm SoftBank is

taking a large stake in Uber. The

arrangement will make the

ridesharing company's co-founder and

CEO of very rich man. Earlier I

asked our North American technology

reporter why it had taken so long to

get a deal.

There were a number of

moving parts. On the one hand we had

Uber's continuing controversies

about information breaches, sexism

and various lawsuits they were

involved in and there was a lot to

work through when it came to the

nature of the deal. For example,

SoftBank Group and the investors in

the deal or the shares from existing

employees and investors at Uber and

also as part of the deal they

negotiated two board seats, which

will be taken by SoftBank. The

process of getting all of those

things are blind to the point where

this was agreed to a long time. It

was finally announced today. Now

this huge deal, which pumps a lot of

cash into Uber, has finally been

completed.

When President Trump took

office one year ago his big promise

was to bring more jobs to the United

States. One of the biggest deals to

be announced since he took charge

was a $10 billion investment by a

Taiwanese company. But the

government is giving the firm

billions of dollars in tax breaks

and many are wondering if it will

all pay off. Our correspondent

reports.

The last winter for these fields of

corn. By next year, farms and homes

here will make way for a bustling

fact it churning out digital

displays. If all goes to plan

thousands of jobs will be created.

In exchange for hefty tax breaks. It

is a big deal for a small community.

The top story in the local

newspaper. Everyone has an opinion

force.

I'm generally for it. I think

it will be positive for the area for

operating the lot of general

contractors and industries in the

area will benefit.

But on the

flipside we are spending too much

money in a quick amount of time.

I

feel like we've spent more than

seems reasonable. We've stepped out

of bounds and kind of got pulled

into doing this. Let's give them

anything we want.

The Taiwanese firm

Foxconn says 13,000 jobs will be

created in Wisconsin and it will

invest at least $10 billion. But the

company will get $3 billion in tax

credits. And overall it could cost

the government has much as $4.5

billion. The deal was announced in

July last year by President Trump in

the White House. The biggest since

he took office.

If I didn't get

elected he definitely would not be

spending $10 billion.

The money

could transform lives in the two

counties. It is people from

blue-collar communities and small

towns like this that Donald Trump

managed to convince the vote for him

and while the past has seen a fair

amount of announcements from big

business, promising to increase

investment and create jobs in

America, it is unclear yet as to

whether they will deliver and what

it will cost the country. So what

happens if Foxconn's plans for

through I ask a local official.

It

is pay-as-you-go and Foxconn's terms

are based on the number of jobs, or

if they don't meet that they don't

get the incentive.

Foxconn didn't

respond to certain questions but

says it is committed to creating

13,000 jobs in Wisconsin. State that

swung in President Trump's favour is

hoping it made the right choice. --

the state.

Indian officials are cutting the tax

rates on some products and services

under the new woods and services

tax, or GST. Federal and state

finance ministers have agreed to put

the lower rates in place starting

the 25th of January. This move comes

after many businesses raised

concerns about high rates and a

complicated filing system. We can

now cross live over to Mumbai. Our

Indian business reporter joins us.

Urging the bleak businesses are

happy about this decision. What are

they saying?

Well, this is good news

for many businesses that have

complained about the high rate of

taxation and the complicated filing

system for the GST is the unified

single tax that replaced multiple

state taxes. It is especially useful

for products that cross the number

of state orders, but the process is

very complicated. For example, it is

online and many businesses in India

don't even have a computer. But this

decision to change the tax is on 29

products and 50 services is as much

for businesses as the government.

The government is very worried about

compliance. It inks many businesses

are evading tax and so by lowering

these taxes it hopes many people

will get into this system and the

part of the tax system. The

government is under a lot of

pressure to meet its fiscal deficit

this financial year. Every since GST

came in last July, the tax revenues

have really gone down. Growth has

also slowed, the government really

wants GST to try and boost growth.

But this is a 25th meeting of the

GST council and this is one of

several changes that have happened

since last July, so there's likely

to be a lot more ups and downs for

India's businesses in the months and

years to come.

Thank you so much for

bringing us up with that story.

Nearly three centuries after some

Scots men hit pebbles with sticks,

golf has grown into a nearly $70

billion industry. Asia has being

seen as a promising market, but is

that still the case? Golf tournament

have struggled to find sponsorship

and prize money has also shrunk. Our

business reporter Mariko Oi is at a

very different change of scene, at

the Singapore open. We must all of

the action!

That's right. The second day of the

tournament is well under way and

some of the worldtop golfers are

here at the Singapore Open,

sponsored by Japan's SNBC. The banks

just announced it would extend

sponsorship another three years,

which is great news for the

organisers because when Barclays

pulled out in 2012 the event had to

be put on hold. I joined by the

promoter. And the joining us. Read

news about the extension of the

sponsorship, but tell me what is in

it for the big corporations to

sponsor sporting events like this?

I

think looking at SNBC, they were

looking at an asset they could align

their brand with. With their

Asia-Pacific head waters here in

Singapore, this was the ideal

location and they saw the Singapore

Open as a very premier sporting

event, not just the Premier golf

event, what a sporting event, and it

ticks a lot of boxes for them

because of the location, the venue,

the ability to promote themselves in

the region and globally.

But the

prizemoney used to be some $6

million with Barclays and it is now

down to $1 million. Is the money

drying up in the industry?

I don't

think so. We are still seeing

corporations investing in golf. The

prizemoney isn't really a reflection

of the quality of the tournament.

That's what we feel. It's really

about the delivery of the event, the

spectator experience, the sponsor

experience, the amount of exposure

it get and obviously we have the top

layer is still coming and playing,

so they recognise the event as a

premium golf tournament and that's

what it is about, not the

prizemoney.

Would you say there has

been pressure on these banks

especially when they were going to

the financial crisis and so on, that

they shouldn't be throwing these big

bucks at sporting events?

I think

there's always pressure and I think

they need to be very careful as to

what they select, what sort of

sporting properties or any property,

whether it is entertainment or

lifestyle and so on. Do they have to

have very compelling reasons. I'm

sure they go through a very lengthy

internal process to make sure it's

not going to compromise their

reputation in any way.

What about

the number of golfers? We saw a

sharp decline in the US and the UK

and Japan. At about the rest of

Asia?

I think golf is in a

relatively healthy position in Asia,

especially in Southeast Asia. We are

seeing steady growth in the

countries that have traditionally

had good participation, places like

Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia

is picking up, Malaysia, even

Singapore, despite the lack of

facilities, it has been well

documented. And I think it's good to

see the younger kids taking an

interest and I think a lot of that

has to do with the players that are

at the top of the pile these days.

Thank you so much. And of course

golf is now part of the Olympics, so

that must be a boost as well.

Thank you. That rings as to the end

of this edition of Asia Business

Report. Thanks for watching.