0:00:00 > 0:00:01the cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins, has told the BBC he is not a drugs
0:00:01 > 0:00:04cheat, after a Parliamentary report accused him of using an asthma drug
0:00:04 > 0:00:05to enhance his performance.
0:00:05 > 0:00:15Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Global shares are higher, as investors shrugged off fears of a
0:00:20 > 0:00:26trade war. And electric cars move into the fast lane. How new
0:00:26 > 0:00:36technology is bringing radical changes to the auto industry. Good
0:00:36 > 0:00:41morning, welcome to Asia Business Report, live from Singapore, with
0:00:41 > 0:00:46me, Mariko Oi. After a few days of panic selloff switch we saw,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50investors seem less nervous about President Donald Trump's threat to
0:00:50 > 0:00:54impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. On Wall Street, the Dow
0:00:54 > 0:01:00broke a four they losing streak, up 1.4%. Investors started to see the
0:01:00 > 0:01:04President's comments as a negotiating tool after he tweeted
0:01:04 > 0:01:10that Canada and Mexico could avoid his proposed tariffs if they agreed
0:01:10 > 0:01:13on a new North American Free Trade Agreement. We are now seeing Asia
0:01:13 > 0:01:18following Wall Street, with the Nikkei up by 2%. But is their
0:01:18 > 0:01:24enthusiasm premature? I put that question to my colleague Joe Miller
0:01:24 > 0:01:28in New York.They do seem quite optimistic about it at the close
0:01:28 > 0:01:32today, but earlier this morning, when the President tweeted those
0:01:32 > 0:01:37things and seemed to tie the fate of these tariffs to Nafta, initially
0:01:37 > 0:01:42the read on Wall Street was that this was bad news, that this was the
0:01:42 > 0:01:48President doubling down on these plans to put 25% tariffs on steel,
0:01:48 > 0:01:5410% on aluminium, that they thought in turn would hurt US businesses
0:01:54 > 0:01:59like car makers which rely on US steel. But as the day wore on,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03despite the fact that President in the Oval Office said he was not
0:02:03 > 0:02:06backing down when it came to these tariffs, I think people started to
0:02:06 > 0:02:10see this as a negotiating position, as you said. The reason for that is
0:02:10 > 0:02:15we have seen a really strong backlash from people within the
0:02:15 > 0:02:18President's own Republican Party. We have seen house leader Paul Ryan
0:02:18 > 0:02:23coming out to say he strongly urges the President to reconsider, and we
0:02:23 > 0:02:27have seen other Senate Republicans say similar things. So it is
0:02:27 > 0:02:31beginning to look as though the ink has not dried on these tariffs yet,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and there may be some tempering of this position. That is why we have
0:02:35 > 0:02:40seen the markets, or at least the Dow Jones, closed some 300 point up
0:02:40 > 0:02:44today.In other business news, speaking on proposed tariffs on
0:02:44 > 0:02:51imported steel and aluminium, car giants General Motors and Ford would
0:02:51 > 0:02:54suffer a $1 billion profit hit according to analysts at Goldman
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Sachs who say the tariffs proposed by President Trump could result in
0:02:58 > 0:03:03increased costs. Harley-Davidson says a punitive or territory tariffs
0:03:03 > 0:03:07on its motorcycles in any market would have a significant impact on
0:03:07 > 0:03:11its sales there. The European Commission's president last week
0:03:11 > 0:03:15threatened to impose tariffs on their products if President Trump
0:03:15 > 0:03:18followed through on a plan to impose global duties on aluminium and
0:03:18 > 0:03:25steel. Harley said in a statement that it supports free and fair trade
0:03:25 > 0:03:30and the proposed import tariffs would drive up costs for all
0:03:30 > 0:03:34products made with aluminium and steel regardless of their origin. As
0:03:34 > 0:03:38you can imagine, President Trump's threats to impose those tariffs have
0:03:38 > 0:03:42certainly caused a stir ahead of this week's Geneva auto show. Most
0:03:42 > 0:03:47people in the industry appear to be waiting to hear more details before
0:03:47 > 0:03:53they decide on how to respond. Meanwhile, at the show itself it is
0:03:53 > 0:03:56business as usual and carmakers continue to prepare themselves for
0:03:56 > 0:04:00the radical change which new technology is bringing. Part of that
0:04:00 > 0:04:03change is a move towards electric cars which is steadily gathering
0:04:03 > 0:04:12momentum.More can convenient motoring is the dream of every car
0:04:12 > 0:04:16owner Britain. The Commuta could well be one of the answers to that
0:04:16 > 0:04:21dream.Electric cars have been around for years but for a long time
0:04:21 > 0:04:25they had an image problem. They were seen as quirky but slow and unable
0:04:25 > 0:04:31to go far before the batteries ran out. Then Tesla came out with its
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Model S. Launched in 2012, it showed electric vehicles could be powerful,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41fast and have decent range but choice was limited. If you wanted a
0:04:41 > 0:04:45high-performance electric car you had to buy a Tesla. Now, that might
0:04:45 > 0:04:49be allowed to change. This is a new car from Jaguar which is attracting
0:04:49 > 0:04:53a lot of attention at the Geneva motor show. It is a battery electric
0:04:53 > 0:04:57car and the reason that matters is it is the first high-performance
0:04:57 > 0:05:01electric vehicle to come on the market to really challenge Tesla's
0:05:01 > 0:05:09crown. So let's see what it can do. This car matters because it is
0:05:09 > 0:05:15sporty, it can do zero to 60 in 4.5 seconds and it has a maximum range
0:05:15 > 0:05:22of 300 miles. As we know, range is all-important.The way the market is
0:05:22 > 0:05:26going, there is no doubt about that. There are still very few electric
0:05:26 > 0:05:30vehicles sold, one in every 200 last year, but the market is shifting
0:05:30 > 0:05:34towards alternative drive vehicles and we are shifting with it so this
0:05:34 > 0:05:39is us entering the market.So Jaguar may have won the race to be the
0:05:39 > 0:05:43first real challenger to Tesla at the Top End of the market, but it
0:05:43 > 0:05:47won't be the last. Because Porsche are bringing out another
0:05:47 > 0:05:52high-performance electric vehicle. Mercedes have something similar in
0:05:52 > 0:05:59the pipeline, and so does Audi. This could become quite a crowded market.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Finally EVs have been pushed into the mainstream, and I think with tax
0:06:03 > 0:06:06incentives and people wanting less pollution in city centres people are
0:06:06 > 0:06:10starting to see the benefit in an electric car and they are starting
0:06:10 > 0:06:13to see that they are quite an addictive, luxurious, relaxing thing
0:06:13 > 0:06:19to be in.Of course, most people probably won't be able to afford an
0:06:19 > 0:06:25upmarket electric cart like Jaguar's I-Pace or the Has lures, but that is
0:06:25 > 0:06:30not the point. They are making people more likely to buy something
0:06:30 > 0:06:39more affordable. -- Teslas. For this, Nissan's Leaf. It is day two
0:06:39 > 0:06:44of China's annual meeting of Parliament and we are waiting on
0:06:44 > 0:06:47details from a super regulator which will keep insurance and banking
0:06:47 > 0:06:52industries under one watchdog. It is one of the crucial measures the
0:06:52 > 0:06:55President has been looking at the counter risks to the financial
0:06:55 > 0:07:01system. Growth is slowing down in China, and I spoke to a professor of
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Chinese business at the University of Sydney, who says the pressure
0:07:04 > 0:07:08around the topic is starting to shift.There is general consensus is
0:07:08 > 0:07:12that in the end growth had to be brought down from the very high, two
0:07:12 > 0:07:17digit levels, to a sustainable level. In fact what has happened now
0:07:17 > 0:07:20is that the debate about growth has shifted away from the actual
0:07:20 > 0:07:24figures. So whether 6.5 or slightly more or slightly less is less
0:07:24 > 0:07:29important than the quality of growth, and that means growth that
0:07:29 > 0:07:34is promoting domestic consumption, building on domestic consumption, as
0:07:34 > 0:07:38opposed to government investment in big projects. That is growth which
0:07:38 > 0:07:43is sustainable, that means growth that rings a reduction of pollution,
0:07:43 > 0:07:50rings among other things, better health, and thereby makes the whole
0:07:50 > 0:07:54economy, all puts the whole economy, on a much more stable basis. That is
0:07:54 > 0:07:58more important now than the actual growth figure.India has had its
0:07:58 > 0:08:04fair share of banking scandals lately. Now its income tax
0:08:04 > 0:08:07department has discovered a scam involving more than 400 companies
0:08:07 > 0:08:10who haven't paid 100 of millions of dollars to the government. Joining
0:08:10 > 0:08:17me live from Mumbai is my colleague. Tell us the details of this latest
0:08:17 > 0:08:26scandal.Well, it is being called yet another fraud here in India. The
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Indian income tax Department says that around 461 million dollars
0:08:29 > 0:08:36worth of money has not been deposited with it. Indian companies
0:08:36 > 0:08:44tax employees' salaries at course to make sauce, it is called TDS, and
0:08:44 > 0:08:50many companies have failed to deposit that TDS with its income tax
0:08:50 > 0:08:55department -- source. Now a large construction firm and multinational
0:08:55 > 0:08:59IT company have been implicated. According to the income tax act in
0:08:59 > 0:09:03India, not depositing that money faces jail time of between three
0:09:03 > 0:09:08months and seven years. So it is bad news for those companies if they are
0:09:08 > 0:09:12named. It is also bad news for the government. Apart from failing to
0:09:12 > 0:09:18get those revenues, it is also the latest scam which has come to light
0:09:18 > 0:09:23after a series of scams and frauds in the last month. The biggest one
0:09:23 > 0:09:30was won at a state owned bank called the Punjab National bank. It seems
0:09:30 > 0:09:34that around $2 million worth of money was defrauded of a single
0:09:34 > 0:09:40branch here in Mumbai, so there is a lot of pressure on the government to
0:09:40 > 0:09:44clean up its act and tighten its checks and balances for these kinds
0:09:44 > 0:09:51of things.Thank you so much for that update. I am sure we will have
0:09:51 > 0:09:54more of the details as they continue to investigate.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56more of the details as they continue to investigate. Let's take a look at
0:09:56 > 0:10:00markets before we go. As we mentioned, Wall Street recovered
0:10:00 > 0:10:04overnight and now we are seeing some rebound here in Asia as well, with
0:10:04 > 0:10:10the Nikkei and Hong Kong up by nearly 2%. In Japan, we are
0:10:10 > 0:10:15monitoring the shares in steel after a business newspaper said its boss
0:10:15 > 0:10:19may be stepping down because of that scandal over the quality of its
0:10:19 > 0:10:24product, and in currencies we are watching the euro. Of course, we had
0:10:24 > 0:10:26that inconclusive weekend election over the weekend,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30that inconclusive weekend election over the weekend, and that is it for
0:10:30 > 0:10:31this edition of Asia Business