SET’s Senior Executive Vice President Soraphol Tulayasathien said under MoU, the two parties would jointly conduct a study for a reliable platform, catering to the wholesale electricity market. SET has realised that a mechanism to maximise electricity management efficiency is important for both power producers and consumers, she added.

“The cooperation is also in line with SET’s vision “To Make the Capital Market ‘Work’ for Everyone”. SET has been joining up with various sectors to develop the capital market’s basic infrastructure, products and services to keep pace with global standards while creating new business opportunities. Nowadays, all businesses worldwide, including utility which is part of Thailand’s basic infrastructure, must embrace changes amid competition,” Soraphol said .

Bhawana Aungkananuwat, Egat’s Deputy Governor/Administration said the purpose of this cooperation was to prepare for a new trading platform for the wholesale electricity market or Capacity market for advance trading of 3 – 5 years and the Energy market for daily energy trading, in support of the country being the regional centre of electricity trading.

Moreover, it will help prepare for market liberalisation and promote competition in the energy industry. The cooperation covers the study on the development of a wholesale electricity market trading platform, energy industry model, energy trading mechanism, and wholesale power purchase agreement (both in advance and during the day).

The cooperation between the two organisations is the start of energy industry development, using market mechanism to increase energy management efficiency, ability to compete, and the overall Thai economy.

The MoU covers a one-year period, starting from September 4, 2019 to September 3, 2020. Both parties will study readiness and develop business model for the wholesale electricity market, support information, and exchange knowledge.

He added that amidst the global economic uncertainties as a result of the trade war between the US and China, Thai entrepreneurs needed to manage international trade risks in conjunction with exploring new business opportunities.

One of the options is to expand trade and investment to new markets with high potential, such as India, the seventh largest country in the world with the world’s second largest population as well as tremendous cultural diversity, hence a demand for a large variety of products..

Adul was speaking at a seminar titled :India: The Window of Opportunities” organized by EXIM Thailand in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce in Bangkok.

He added that to successfully enter the Indian market, Thai entrepreneurs need to understand the diversity among Indian states and devise a market strategy that can respond to demand of consumers in each state.

For example, the state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as the capital plays the most significant role in Indian economy. Entrepreneurs should approach middle-class consumers and build linkage to Indian supply chains.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu state with Chennai as the capital is the production hub of India and home to the country’s largest number of special economic zones. They number around 40 and have the largest pool of skilled labour force, particularly engineers.

Prospective industries for Thai entrepreneurs include textiles, processed foods, automobile and information technology. Moreover, Gujarat state with Gandhinagar as the capital is well equipped with industrial clusters, infrastructures and rules and regulations conducive to business operation as well as large seaports ranking among the top of the country, making the state a prime location for setting up a production base for both domestic distribution and export.

The EXIM Thailand director added that the Indian states with high potential are mostly situated in the western and the southern regions of the country.

Each state has remarkable features of its own and different business environments in respect of availability of infrastructures, industrial clusters, rules and regulations, and market size. Each state should be viewed and treated as one single country so that its specific characteristics are understood before business engagement.

He said that EXIM Thailand stands ready to support Thai entrepreneurs aspiring to start up or expand business in India through the provision of financial tools comprising working capital as well as medium- and long-term financing, export credit insurance and investment insurance.

India is Thailand’s tenth largest export market. Thai-Indian trade reached US$ 12.463.75 billion in value, comprising Thai exports to India worth $7.632 billion and Thai import from India of $4.863 billion.

Major export goods from Thailand include chemicals, plastic resin and air-conditioners and parts, while main import goods from India are gems, silver and gold, and mechanical machinery and parts.”

“EXIM Thailand is ready to support Thai entrepreneurs in their penetration of new frontier markets such as India by, among others, offering of knowledge and information on cultural diversity among Indian states. This will facilitate their selection of the right location which is one of the top priorities for business establishments. Credit and insurance facilities are also available to enhance access to new business opportunities in the forms of both trade and investment finance and risk management tools to ensure their competitiveness on a stable and sustainable basis,” Adul added.

The Thai National Shippers’ Council (TNSC) urged the Commerce Ministry and related agencies this week to break into India’s booming market.

The Indian market offers big opportunities amid demand for rubber, rubber wood, food, jewellery and repairing chemical spray, and Thailand has the potential to compete there while benefiting from the FTA agreement between the two countries, TNSC president Kanyapak Tantipipatpong said.

She added the government should hasten Thai-Sri Lankan FTA negotiations.

Nooch Homrossukhon, director of TCEB’s Meetings and Incentives Department, said the road show was staged in July with the aim of strengthening Thailand’s existing meetings and incentives business from Indiaw while at the same time generating new opportunities.

“In line with TCEB’s role under its ‘Thailand Redefine Your Business Events’ branding, we are creating business opportunities that generate promising sales leads for the Thai MICE sector. In this context, the India Road Show yielded productive results,” said Nooch.

The activity involved corporate networking events and media meet-up sessions in New Delhi and Mumbai, and was led by Nooch, along with Nitin Sachdeva, TCEB’s Representative in India.

The events in New Delhi and Mumbai attracted significant interest within India’s outbound meetings and incentives market, providing a positive indication of Thailand’s continued status as a leading MICE destination in Asia, Nooch added.

In New Delhi, TCEB’s corporate networking event was attended by 48 corporate delegates, while the media meet-up session saw nine media companies participating. The Mumbai event was attended by 55 corporate delegates, and the media meet-up session drew five media companies.

A major component of TCEB’s marketing activity in the Indian market involves the “Meet by Design – Redefined” support campaign, comprising three packages with a tailored menu of privileges and subsidies for event groups coming to Thailand. “Meet NOW” is for meeting and incentive groups starting from 100 delegates and offers a choice of exclusive in-kind services, including a Thai welcome gift for all delegates; VIP fast-track immigration at Suvarnabhumi Airport or a cultural performance. For groups of more than 500 delegates, a financial subsidy is also included. “Meet SMART” is for corporate meeting groups of 100 from the 10 targeted industries under the Thailand 4.0 policy, while “Meet MEGA” is aimed at larger groups of more than 3,000 delegates.

“The India Road Show also gathered vital feedback on the requirements and wishes of the Indian meetings and incentives market towards Thailand. Key factors are the demand for new and competitively priced products, and added value private sector offerings such as discount vouchers, Nooch said.

According to the latest reports, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in August, though the overall economy grew for the 124th consecutive month, executives noted in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.

The report was issued on Tuesday (September 2) by Timothy R Fiore, CPSM, CPM, chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Business Survey Committee and noted that the August PMI registered 49.1 per cent, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the July reading of 51.2 per cent. There are falls were across the board, with the New Orders Index registering 47.2 per cent, down 3.6 percentage points from the July reading of 50.8 per cent. The Production Index registered 49.5 per cent (a 1.3-percentage point decrease over July), the Employment Index registered 47.4 per cent (4.3 percentage points down) and the Supplier Deliveries Index registered 51.4 per cent (1.9-percentage point down). The Inventories Index registered 49.9 per cent, an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the July reading of 49.5 per cent while the Prices Index registered 46 per cent, a 0.9-percentage point increase from the July reading of 45.1 per cent.

“Comments from the panel reflect a notable decrease in business confidence. August saw the end of the PMI expansion that spanned 35 months, with steady expansion softening over the last four months. Demand contracted, with the New Orders Index contracting, the Customers’ Inventories Index recovering slightly from prior months and the Backlog of Orders Index contracting for the fourth straight month. The New Export Orders Index contracted strongly and experienced the biggest loss among the sub-indexes. Consumption (measured by the Production and Employment Indexes) contracted at higher levels, contributing the strongest negative numbers (a combined 5.6-percentage point decrease) to the PMI, driven by a lack of demand. Inputs, expressed as supplier deliveries, inventories and imports, were again lower in August, due to inventory tightening for the third straight month and continued slower supplier deliveries. This resulted in a combined 1.5-percentage point decline in the Supplier Deliveries and Inventories indexes. Imports and new export orders contracted to new lows. Overall, inputs indicate (1) supply chains are responding better and (2) companies are continuing to closely match inventories to new orders, a positive sign for future expansion. Prices contracted for the third consecutive month, indicating lower overall systemic demand.

“Respondents expressed slightly more concern about US-China trade turbulence, but trade remains the most significant issue, indicated by the strong contraction in new export orders. Respondents continued to note supply chain adjustments as a result of moving manufacturing from China. Overall, sentiment this month declined and reached its lowest level in 2019,” Fiore noted.

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, nine reported growth in August, in the following order: Textile Mills; Furniture & Related Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Wood Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Machinery; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Chemical Products. The seven industries reporting contraction in August in the following order are: Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Transportation Equipment; Primary Metals; Plastics & Rubber Products; Paper Products; and Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components.

The period is traditionally used as a deadline for filing tax returns and refunds in many countries.

Criminals and hackers tried to steal valuable information, or in some cases, install dangerous spyware. This and other findings are revealed in the firm’s Spam and Phishing in Q2 2019 report, which also noted that these attacks are becoming more common in Thailand.

Email or mailshots with spam and malicious phishing attempts usually contain links that lead users to a seemingly legitimate Web page, but are created by fraudsters and aimed at stealing personal information.

In the second quarter this year, more than 9 per cent of users in Thailand were infected, compared to 7 per cent during the same period last year, the report said. These mailshots often exploit seasonal activities to strike victims harder than usual using fraudulent tricks, as there is less awareness around them compared to permanent threats. Scammers can use one of the most effective social engineering techniques, giving the victim a limited amount of time to act, justifying it with real-life circumstances, and therefore forcing the person to make spontaneous decisions.

The detected wave of tax refund fraud came under the guise of tax refund letters with short expiration dates. For instance, malefactors used fake major UK tax services to urge victims to follow the link and fill out the form immediately, while emails under the guise of the Canada Revenue Agency gave targeted victims just 24 hours to respond, stating that “otherwise a tax refund would not be possible”.

Some of the emails analysed by Kaspersky experts included malicious attachments, disguised as a copy of the return form, which in fact was either a malicious downloader, which would download more malicious programs onto users’ computers when launched, or backdoor multifunctional malware that provided criminals with remote access to the infected machine. Its capabilities include monitoring keystrokes, stealing passwords for browsers and Windows accounts and recording video from the computer’s webcam, the report added. To convince users to open and launch such malicious files, fraudsters usually make it look like a .zip file containing important information for tax form updates.

“Seasonal spam and phishing can be extremely effective, since the emergence of such email letters is sometimes expected, unlike most ‘unique offer’-type scams,” Kaspersky security researcher Maria Vergelis said.

“Moreover, with phishing attacks, the tricked victim might not even realise he/she was subjected to a cyberattack and had exposed their credentials, until it is too late and then they suffer the consequences. The good news is that there are security solutions that not only block malware from being launched and notify the user about threats, but also have spam and phishing filters that prevent such emails from appearing in one’s inbox,” she said.

The initiative, Travalyst, aims to transform the future of travel for everyone.

Led by Harry and co-founded alongside leading service providers in the travel industry, Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa, this first-of-its-kind initiative is dedicated to exploring and promoting solutions that will make travel more sustainable. The initiative brings together global businesses – those at the centre of connecting customers and operators in the travel market – to utilise their unique position to educate, raise awareness and promote positive change.

This new partnership aims to pave a new way to travel by helping explore the world in a more sustainable manner, protecting people, places and wildlife, and securing a positive future for destinations and local communities for many generations to come.

Working with companies, consumers and communities, the partnership will initially explore and promote solutions that help drive sustainable practices and consumer choices in areas like supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environmental damage, and alleviating over-tourism.

The Indian market offers big opportunities amid demand for rubber, rubber wood, food, jewellery and repairing chemical spray, and Thailand has the potential to compete there while benefiting from the FTA agreement between the two countries, TNSC president Kanyapak Tantipipatpong said.

She also said the government should hasten Thai-Sri Lankan FTA negotiations.

The ministry should besides look into high growth and secondary markets such as Greece, Austria and Ukraine, Kanyapak said, adding that the Department of International Trade Promotion should organise discussions between companies of “champion products” and commercial attachés of each country to enhance trade.

Kanyapak urged the government to support the overall e-commerce platform, or National Digital Trade Platform, to expand the online market amid a global trade war.

Export growth in July expanded 4.28 per cent to $21 billion (Bt642.3 billion), compared to the same period last year that saw a decrease of 0.7 per cent.

However, the TNSC forecast that full-year export growth will decrease by 1 per cent.

There are four factors that might change this amount of decrease – gold prices, which tend to rise as the commodity becomes a safe investment in an unstable trading situation; the trade war between China and the United States; promotional campaigns for new potential products, with markets for agricultural products, food, and lifestyle goods witnessing constant growth in the US and India; and decreasing oil prices amid the trade conflict and low global demand.

Kanyapak said the government needs to monitor global situations which threaten Thai export growth, such as the US-China tariff battle, Brexit, foreign conflicts, baht appreciation, and natural disasters.

Since its launch in 2015, Shopee, which is owned by gaming firm Sea, has grown into one of South-East Asia’s leading e-commerce platforms, with operations in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

In the second quarter of 2019, the platform achieved 246.3 million orders regionally and recorded a gross merchandise volume of US$3.8 billion (S$5.3 billion).

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who officiated the opening, said Shopee’s growth is aligned with Singapore’s plans for growing the economy and positioning itself as a hub for the region to harness the potential of the growing digital economy.

“The rise of South-east Asian and Asian economies brings opportunities, and we must position Singapore well to harness them. We have to constantly strive to ensure that companies like Shopee, doing business across the region, will continue to see Singapore as an ideal base for serving the region,” he said.

He added that companies in the region can also look to Singapore as a springboard to going global. “We strive to serve as a global-Asia node – in linking the world to Asia and Asia to the world.”

Mr Heng also spoke about efforts to build up Singapore’s value to the business economy. He cited ongoing plans for a pathfinder Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with Chile and New Zealand, collaboration with Australia on digital economy initiatives, and investments in research and development in the services and digital economy domain.

“Our efforts to grow our digital economy, transform our industries, and build new capabilities are wide-ranging, but our overarching intent is clear. Ultimately, these must translate into good jobs for our people,” he said.

In four years, Shopee has grown from just 10 employees to over 1,500 staff and the new office can accommodate up to 3,000 employees.

An August report by product comparison website iPrice showed Shopee extending its lead over rival Lazada as the top Internet shopping platform in the region.

Shopee had a monthly average of 200.2 million visits via both desktop and mobile gadgets in the second quarter, while Alibaba-owned Lazada was ranked second with 174.4 million visits.

Shopee’s new 244,000 sq ft office is almost six times larger than the previous one at Ascent Building in Science Park Drive. The new building has a 3,000 sq ft gym, nap pods on every level, and a fun zone with pool tables and foosball tables.

Chief commercial officer and head of Shopee Singapore Zhou Junjie said the new office reaffirms Shopee’s long-term commitment to Singapore.

“Expanding the tech talent pipeline and nurturing an entrepreneurial ecosystem for sellers and SMEs will continue to be areas of focus for us,” he said.

As the company continues to expand, The Straits Times understands that Shopee will look to hire more data analysts, data scientists, software engineers, and developers who specialise in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Shopee is also working with Digital Industry Singapore to develop tech talent. The company has committed to training more than 100 employees under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s TechSkills Accelerator initiative to become software engineers and data analysts.

Shopee has also partnered the Economic Development Board and local universities to nurture data scientists at the postgraduate level.

Mr Zhou said: “This new office marks a significant milestone in our journey thus far, and sets the stage for us to solidify our leadership position.”

Chatchai Sirilai, the bank’s president, said many provinces, especially in the North and Northeast, were affected by the storm, with many areas hit by flash floods that destroyed homes and farms.

As part of its “housing loans for natural disaster victims”, the bank has earmarked Bt1 billion to provide individual loans based on the amount of damage caused by floods.

As the first measure, GH Bank will offer a respite to people who owe house loans or mortgages by bringing the annual interest rate down to 0 per cent for the first four months, and then raising it to 4.125 per cent from the fifth to 16th month. From the 17th to 24th month, the annual interest rate will rise to 4.625 per cent and on the third year, the interest rate will rise to 5.625 per cent per annum.

After this, the GH Bank will reduce its minimum retail rate (MRR) of 6.625 per cent by 1 percentage point for welfare clients and by 0.5 percentage point for retail clients.

As the second measure, the bank will allow new and old home-loan holders to seek additional funds to repair damages at home. This loan will be provided at a fixed interest rate of 3 per cent per year for three years, after which welfare clients will be charged a floating rate of MRR that is 1 percentage point less than the bank’s normal rate, and retail clients will be charged 0.5 percentage point less.

The bank will also consider loans of Bt1 million each for clients seeking a second loan, and will cancel some fees.

In the third measure, debtors who are affected by the disaster and unable to make payments, the bank will bring the interest down to zero for the first four months, and then set the interest rate at 1 per cent for the fifth to 16th month. Once this period ends, the debtors will have to pay the normal rate.

For the fourth measure, debtors who have been affected by the flood and are unable to earn a living will only have to pay 1 per cent interest for a year.

In the fifth measures, families of debtors who have died or have been handicapped by the disaster will pay off the loan at 0.01 per cent annual interest rate.

For the sixth measure, clients whose homes were irreparably damaged by flooding will only have to pay for the land.

As a seventh measure, the bank will speed up compensation for clients who have insurance that covers natural disasters. The bank will immediately approve compensations of Bt15,000, but will provide no more than Bt20,000 for homes that have sustained damage from floodwaters higher than 100 centimetres.

Phiphat did not elaborate when or which countries he would visit but he said he was looking at Italy’s model that allows pubs and bars to remain open until dawn to draw tourists.

“Several countries stimulate tourism by opening entertainment places in tourist destinations to encourage foreign tourists to spend. But the country whose policy interests me the most is Italy, where entertainment venues stay open until dawn. I want our entertainment venues to remain open until 4 am because our target group is not local residents but foreign tourists,” Phiphat said.

He said he would discuss and seek opinions from foreign officials on the pros and cons of allowing entertainment places to remain open late.

The minister said he has assigned the Tourism Authority of Thailand to survey opinions of operators of entertainment venues before submitting the plan for the Cabinet to consider.

TAT governor Yutthasak Supasorn said the TAT has checked opinions of operators of pubs and bars in several tourist destination areas, including Pattaya, Khon Kaen and Hat Yai. Next week, the TAT would conduct the survey in Chiang Mai as well as in selected southern provinces.

Yutthasak said operators in Khon Kaen did not want to extend the closing hours beyond 2 am, saying there are no foreign tourists left at 2 am.

But operators in Pattaya would like to remain open until 4am, the TAT governor added.