0:00:00 > 0:00:01the UK. The athletics world has been paying tribute to Sir Roger
0:00:01 > 0:00:05Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Now for
0:00:05 > 0:00:15business news from Singapore.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21China is set to make sweeping changes that will give President Xi
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Jinping more power and consolidate control over its regular trip
0:00:24 > 0:00:29policies. And one Indian carmaker makes inroads into the US by
0:00:29 > 0:00:42building a massive auto assembly part in America's car capital. Good
0:00:42 > 0:00:47morning and welcome to Asia Business Report live from Singapore with me.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53As we can see, China's National's People's Congress has kicked off and
0:00:53 > 0:01:01is well in Beijing. Leaders began by setting 2018 GDP growth at 6.5% the
0:01:01 > 0:01:07same as last year and an increase in military spending of 8%. They are
0:01:07 > 0:01:12also expected to rubberstamp several sweeping pieces of legislation
0:01:12 > 0:01:18including removing term women for the President. Lawmakers are also
0:01:18 > 0:01:23expected to create a powerful anticorruption agency and approve a
0:01:23 > 0:01:28major overhaul of its banking and insurance sectors, putting them
0:01:28 > 0:01:32under the supervision of one government bureau. All this while
0:01:32 > 0:01:37there is a transition in leadership at the central bank and the People's
0:01:37 > 0:01:41bank of China. These changes are crucial to President Xi Jinping's
0:01:41 > 0:01:45efforts to bring down debt levels in Chinese companies while the economy
0:01:45 > 0:01:53cools down. Growth has dropped from 10% in 2010 to just under 7% last
0:01:53 > 0:01:56year and the International Monetary Fund says that will slow down to
0:01:56 > 0:02:06below 6% by 2020 to. Earlier I spoke to an equities expert in Hong Kong
0:02:06 > 0:02:09about what putting an end to presidential term limits will move
0:02:09 > 0:02:13the Chinese economy. Over the medium term there is likely to be very
0:02:13 > 0:02:17little impact. In some ways what it does reduce the uncertainty that we
0:02:17 > 0:02:23may have otherwise seen. From a market perspective over the short to
0:02:23 > 0:02:28medium term I don't think there is an issue. There will be those who
0:02:28 > 0:02:32say if the policies are not the way that one would want over the longer
0:02:32 > 0:02:35term, this may reduce the ability for that to be changed in the
0:02:35 > 0:02:41future. If we go back and look at the US, around World War Two, we had
0:02:41 > 0:02:45presidents was over two terms as well. I think it comes down to the
0:02:45 > 0:02:49policies and the individual involved. Another massive issue is
0:02:49 > 0:02:54that this anticorruption agency. How is it different to the fact that the
0:02:54 > 0:02:57government there has been cracking down on corruption for several
0:02:57 > 0:03:03years?One of the things that we are seeing at the moment is power being
0:03:03 > 0:03:07centralised. If you think about some of the policies we seen in China, be
0:03:07 > 0:03:12it anti- graft or protecting the environment, simplifying the
0:03:12 > 0:03:15financial system, what we are seeing is that being brought more and more
0:03:15 > 0:03:20into more of a Beijing focused. Historically we have seen that done
0:03:20 > 0:03:24at a more provincial level. But is a definite trend we have seen.And is
0:03:24 > 0:03:30the cooling economy and is a high level of debt, are they a big
0:03:30 > 0:03:36challenge for the President going forward?Every economy as it grows
0:03:36 > 0:03:39and the Chinese economy has become quite large now and as a result of
0:03:39 > 0:03:44that, growth will slow down. From a market perspective I think Beijing
0:03:44 > 0:03:47is too focused on growth. We have seen a correlation between stock
0:03:47 > 0:03:53market return and growth, it is non- existent. If you look at the US
0:03:53 > 0:03:59market and its growth relative to China, it is likely will expand. The
0:03:59 > 0:04:02key here is what most people are looking for is an improvement in a
0:04:02 > 0:04:07type of growth. Not just about jobs for the sake of jobs, it is about
0:04:07 > 0:04:09better jobs, advancing the economy, about bringing industry forward. I
0:04:09 > 0:04:12think that will be a key focus.
0:04:12 > 0:04:19Donald Trump has begun a local game of tit-for-tat when he said the US
0:04:19 > 0:04:25will slap a tariff on imported steel and aluminium. The EU struck back
0:04:25 > 0:04:31saying they would target products like jeans, bourbon and
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Harley-Davidson is. But what could this mean for India? I'm joined now
0:04:36 > 0:04:41by our correspondent. Will this affect Indian steel producers?Not
0:04:41 > 0:04:48directly. Just 2% of Indian steel is exported to the United States. What
0:04:48 > 0:04:51is causing concern here is the damping of cheap imports from
0:04:51 > 0:04:57countries that would have sold to the US market, countries like Korea,
0:04:57 > 0:05:03Japan and Russia. The Indian government last year introduced
0:05:03 > 0:05:11anti-dumping charges, increased tariffs on imports and that helped
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Indian producers of steel. The problem is that those charges have
0:05:15 > 0:05:19now become lower than market rates, because of the price of raw material
0:05:19 > 0:05:22rising, so Indian producers are still concerned that these tariffs
0:05:22 > 0:05:28could affect them.We heard from the European Union, we heard from
0:05:28 > 0:05:35Canada. What does the Indian government say about this?India's
0:05:35 > 0:05:38steel Secretary says it is not an immediate cause for concern.
0:05:38 > 0:05:45However, as I mentioned, the anti-dumping concerns that will
0:05:45 > 0:05:54affect companies which rely on export and also Tata steel which has
0:05:54 > 0:06:01European operations secretary also mentioned that the article Donald
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Trump is using to justify these tariffs is slightly stretched. That
0:06:05 > 0:06:09is that the US has the right to investigate any import that is a
0:06:09 > 0:06:15threat to national security.Thank you so much for that update. As we
0:06:15 > 0:06:19wait to see how steel and aluminium tariffs will play out over the next
0:06:19 > 0:06:24few days, Michigan in the American midwest has long been the capital of
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the US auto industry. After the financial crisis, some of the
0:06:28 > 0:06:32biggest car companies headquartered there filed for the. Industry in the
0:06:32 > 0:06:39area went on a downward spiral and has only just started to recover.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43This revival is being aided by an Indian carmaker which has set up a
0:06:43 > 0:06:52factory there and rolled out its first set of cars last week.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58The first new car factory to be opened in the area in 25 years.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Billed as the torch bearer of the resurgence of Detroit, it belongs to
0:07:03 > 0:07:09an Indian company that has its eyes set on the US market.I want to be
0:07:09 > 0:07:12part of the next generation of auto development.The industry is about
0:07:12 > 0:07:17to be rocked. The American boss tells me why the area was an obvious
0:07:17 > 0:07:24choice for them.If you put a centre outside of your home country, the
0:07:24 > 0:07:34best place is probably destroyed. -- Detroit. The EPA is here, there are
0:07:34 > 0:07:38test labs and wind tunnels... It is one stock shop to locate and
0:07:38 > 0:07:42engineering centre in this area. Lawmakers and politicians attended
0:07:42 > 0:07:46the launch and were all keen to show that this droid's worst is behind
0:07:46 > 0:07:52it. This massive abandoned car factory has long been a symbol of
0:07:52 > 0:07:58the downfall of the droid's auto industry. And where most of the US
0:07:58 > 0:08:02manufacturers have headquartered here have made a comeback, the city
0:08:02 > 0:08:07itself is still a long way from the boom time it wants experienced.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12Still, many who have seen the twist and turns and it does come in the
0:08:12 > 0:08:17droid story are breathing easily. For decades, this plant made car
0:08:17 > 0:08:22seats sold to big auto makers in the area. When some of those companies
0:08:22 > 0:08:26purely bankrupt after the financial crisis, this factory almost did not
0:08:26 > 0:08:33make it.I can very clearly recall discussions back in 2007, 2008 about
0:08:33 > 0:08:36whether we would be able to keep this facility open, whether the heat
0:08:36 > 0:08:40to the industry and the customer we serve here was so severe that we
0:08:40 > 0:08:44would not have sufficient business volume to keep the operation in this
0:08:44 > 0:08:52location.Competition is stiff from other parts of the US. However
0:08:52 > 0:08:55nowhere is the success of the auto industry more important than in this
0:08:55 > 0:09:04town. Were almost everyone has a personal connection to it.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08In other business news, the Federal police of India have made four more
0:09:08 > 0:09:13arrests involving the state lender, widening the investigation of the
0:09:13 > 0:09:17biggest ranking fraud in the history of the country. Over a dozen people
0:09:17 > 0:09:21have been arrested by India's Central bureau of investigations
0:09:21 > 0:09:26since the fraud came to light in January. A quick look at the week
0:09:26 > 0:09:32ahead. On Tuesday we will see of Austria's central bank keeps its
0:09:32 > 0:09:36neutral is dance and holds interest rates at a historic low of 1.5%. One
0:09:36 > 0:09:40day later we will have an update on the health of Australia's economy
0:09:40 > 0:09:47when it releases its latest growth figures. And Japan's central bank
0:09:47 > 0:09:51will also hold its monetary policy meeting at the end of the week. And
0:09:51 > 0:09:56investors will be looking for signs of inflation when the US reports its
0:09:56 > 0:10:02latest payroll numbers. Having a look at the markets before we go.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05All Asian markets are lower. Investors are still concerned about
0:10:05 > 0:10:09the potential trade war. On Friday we saw a sharp fall in Asian markets
0:10:09 > 0:10:14although Wall Street did recover somewhat on Friday. We will continue
0:10:14 > 0:10:18to monitor that and in currencies were watching the dollar and also
0:10:18 > 0:10:25the bureau after result of exit polls for Italy's elections. That is
0:10:25 > 0:10:38it for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching.