this is bbc news. the headlines: millions of votes are being counted in turkey after elections to decide who will lead the country for the next five years. the incumbent recep tayyip erdogan is seeking to prolong his 20 years in power against a stiff challenge from his main opponent, kemal kilicdaroglu. at least five people are reported to have died in myanmar after a powerful cyclone hit the country. cyclone mocha is one of the strongest storms to hit the bay of bengal in recent years. in bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to take shelter. ukraine's president has described germany as a �*true friend' in his country's fight against russia. speaking on his first visit to berlin since moscow's full—scale invasion began. volodymyr zelensky said german

support had saved lives. on his trip, the ukrainian leader was awarded the prestigious charlemagne prize. now on bbc news, talking business. hello there, it has been sunny this weekend and has hello. a very warm welcome to the programme. let's take a look at what's on the show. we've spent everything we've saved. it's the country with more consumers than any other on the planet. so how do businesses tap into india's billion plus consumers? as the country's population takes over china, we ask can india boast not only the largest number of people but also one of the most economically powerful? we meet people interviewing — manisha jain who has been meeting and interviewing consumers across india for the boston consulting group, and ritesh agarwal who is still

under 30 years old and has already built the biggest hotel network in india and is spreading his reach around the world. talking of hotels, our big boss this week runs the biggest travel company on earth. we spent almost $40 billion with him so far this year. the big boss that runs booking.com, kayak, and price line, just to name a few. hejoins me later on in the show. wherever you arejoining me from around the world, welcome to the show. just a few weeks ago, as many anticipated, india overtook china to boast the biggest population on earth. but can the country turn

the demographic advantage into an economic one and what the secrets of selling to india's mass population of emerging consumers? perhaps one sign of india's arrival was one of the opening stores of apple just a few weeks ago. but if you can compare the number of apple stores in china with that of india, the question becomes why is apple going on so late? apple currently has two stores in india but operates 45 stores in mainland china. it's a similar story with mcdonald's. the fast food giant in 2021 had just over 50 restaurants in india but had nearly ten times more in china. that is despite the population number being nearly the same at around 1.4 billion people. and maybe this explains why the value of the total amount of goods and services produced in india per person is $2,600 a year. in china it is more than $13,500. one reason for that is that women

are underrepresented in the workforce with only one out of ten indian workers being female. but does that mean women don't make the spending decisions? we hit the streets of mumbai to find our talk to the people there. who spends how much and on what? women, my wife and daughter love shopping. my mum spends more on me! i am an only child so i'm very much pampered and i get why want. in our family we give - equal importance to ever. we did family management for everything. _ both are equal, we save for the kids and their future. we like to save more.

a little flavour the sentiment of the new is of mumbai. but to understand this, we turn to a first guest. she spent years meeting the emerging consumer. she is the emerging mac researcher in delhi. namisha, what to do india's new consumers look for products? i to do india's new consumers look for roducts? , , , ., , ., to do india's new consumers look for roducts? , , , . , ., products? i spent years and i was with consumers _ products? i spent years and i was with consumers in _ products? i spent years and i was with consumers in their _ products? i spent years and i was with consumers in their homes, l with consumers in their homes, researching what they want, how they think, there is no such thing as one indian consumer. what is really special about india is that it is very diverse. having said that, i think a lot of characteristics. let

me highlight three things. one, this is the consumer that is a lot more affluent. today, 12% of indian households are affluent, in the next seven to eight years that number will be 25%. at that time, they will count for more than 50% of consumption in the country and that is very different. those of the less affluent counterparts. the second thing i would say is that the consumers are becoming much more digital. in 2015, 53% of indian households and consumers were online. today that number is over 67%. in a country where it has gotten so democratised, consumers are spending time online, consuming media online and getting influenced on what products to buy and making purchases online. they are that fundamentally changes their exposure

levels, the nature of the choices they are making. and the third thing is that the indian consumer while she is starting to become a lot more aware, a lot more modern in her thinking, also likes to fall back and has a lot of deep—rooted beliefs in indian tradition and is therefore looking for almost a combination of traditional indian ingredients, deep—rooted traditions, but in a modern format. it is that combination that helps to unlock what she looks for. so a very different consumer from what we see in many other parts of the world. and are they more likely to want products from international companies or domestic companies? i think is less about whether the company is indian or domestic. i think it is more about what they are offering, what the brand can provide for them. offering, what the brand can provide forthem. like i offering, what the brand can provide for them. like i was saying earlier,

this consumers looking for brands that are able to combine the best of old and new, the best of tradition with modern. so if you look at beauty and personal care as an example, the indian consumer today once traditional indian ingredients like turmeric and indian herbs are combined in modern formats which are light on the skin, easy—to—use, convenient packaging. it is that combination that makes it special. that combination could be provided by an indian brand or an international brand but it's someone who respects the combination of traditional and modern that they look for. �* . , ., ., , look for. and namisha, the vast ma'ori look for. and namisha, the vast majority of _ look for. and namisha, the vast majority of purchasing _ look for. and namisha, the vast majority of purchasing decisionsj look for. and namisha, the vast - majority of purchasing decisions are made by women. is that the case in india and how quickly our female roles changing there? i’m india and how quickly our female roles changing there?— india and how quickly our female roles changing there? i'm so glad ou asked roles changing there? i'm so glad you asked this — roles changing there? i'm so glad you asked this because _ roles changing there? i'm so glad you asked this because one - roles changing there? i'm so glad you asked this because one of. roles changing there? i'm so gladj you asked this because one of my favourite data points

but india, a few years ago the enrolment of girls in high school actually crossed that of boys in india. ithink actually crossed that of boys in india. i think that is such a powerful data point because what it saysis powerful data point because what it says is that over the next decade, we will have more educated women entering consumption age, more educated women entering the workforce. when that happens, the decision—making hierarchy changes dramatically. already today in india, over50% dramatically. already today in india, over 50% of consumption is influenced by women but that's number in other markets is a lot higherfor number in other markets is a lot higher for household grocery purchases. women have always been the primary decision—maker for that but some large purchases like auto or financial services or even buying your own home, that is where the role of women has historically been lower but it is climbing rapidly. we are seeing this generation of urban

women working in cities. namisha, how important is this for companies? this group should be very important. i think some categories and some brands have understood that and most others have not. the point is going to make earlier is that while the importance of women at the role in decision—making has moved fast, brands have not necessarily adapted their solutions as rapidly as they could have. ithink their solutions as rapidly as they could have. i think two great examples of that are auto and financial services where organisations are behind the curve in adapting both the solutions and communication to target women more effectively. communication to target women more effectivel . . ~ communication to target women more effectivel . ., ~ , ., ., , ., effectively. thank you. if anyone has been at _ effectively. thank you. if anyone has been at the _ effectively. thank you. if anyone has been at the forefront - effectively. thank you. if anyone has been at the forefront of - has been at the forefront of recognising and catering to the growing power of the indian and now international traveller, it is my

next guest. atjust 19 years old, he started 0reo. it's a company that provides its network of hotels with a stack of branding and technology tools. iona quickly became the biggest hotel network in india and has expanded across india and is now in europe and the united states. great to have you with us and i really appreciate your time. i would start with this. you have built one of the most successful home—grown brands in india in the last decade. how did you do it?— how did you do it? thank you for havin: how did you do it? thank you for having me _ how did you do it? thank you for having me here. _ how did you do it? thank you for having me here. we _ how did you do it? thank you for having me here. we are - how did you do it? thank you for having me here. we are lucky . how did you do it? thank you for having me here. we are lucky to | how did you do it? thank you for i having me here. we are lucky to be in india at this point in time. india is increasingly notjust an attractive market for consumers to go from unorganised to organised, but the use of technology is rapidly increasing. nine years back if you had met me and asked, would you have more than 50 million users? i would say no way in ten years because the

amount of capital required to reach so many users as semi—impossible for someone like me to get access to. but now we have access to mobile apps which allows reached consumers who like his mobiles. suddenly we don't need to puts thousands of stores to reach out to them. secondly, there is access to capital which wasn't available earlier for young people with great ideas. today, if you have great success in your early results, people see your business plans and think that it is that a good opportunity. soft bankers fund, lightspeed capital —— they would all be willing to support you with capital. and also, young indians based in india and overseas have all chosen to come back to india where there are these new exciting start—ups that have grown. 30 to 40% of my leadership team has

been two fantastic universities in the united states so i think it's a combination of great talent, great technology and a country that is ready to consume.— ready to consume. you're now launching — ready to consume. you're now launching a — ready to consume. you're now launching a more _ ready to consume. you're now launching a more expensive i ready to consume. you're now - launching a more expensive brand. does this mean the consumer is changing? i does this mean the consumer is chanauin ? ~ , does this mean the consumer is chanauin? ~ , changing? i think first off, consumers _ changing? i think first off, consumers have _ changing? i think first off, consumers have always i changing? i think first off, - consumers have always remained highly value seeking. they want to try and get great expense at the right price point. our offering of course has apparently been focused on the budget ecosystem. but we are increasingly seeing our consumers starting to evolve. i think specifically if you think that being in india allows us to do includes appreciation of what our consumers really want. consumers

sometimes want to great food along with the hotel accommodation which may or may not be the case in budget hotels in other parts of the world. also, our consumers need the ability to appreciate technology. they expect us to predict which hotel they should stay at rather than having to research. and of course, there is also a sense of appeal because india is one of the worlds fastest outbound travel markets. a lot of indians are travelling to southeast asia, europe, united states and various others. and i think due to this, we are able to support our customers locally but also allow them to experience it globally. also allow them to experience it aloball . ., .., also allow them to experience it aloball . ., ,. also allow them to experience it uloball. ., . ., ., globally. how can you create and build a brand _ globally. how can you create and build a brand for— globally. how can you create and build a brand for the _ globally. how can you create and build a brand for the indian - build a brand for the indian consumers?— build a brand for the indian consumers? ., h ., ., , .,

consumers? that's a great question. the first and — consumers? that's a great question. the first and foremost _ consumers? that's a great question. the first and foremost is _ consumers? that's a great question. the first and foremost is to - the first and foremost is to recognise that indian consumers are probably one of the brightest and one of the most globally aware audiences so do not expect for india is a market which probably expect anything less than wild classes services and world—class outcomes. firstly, usage of technology, meeting your consumers actively, and third being comfortable being a global brand to transparently share notjust global brand to transparently share not just a watt global brand to transparently share notjust a watt of global brand to transparently share not just a watt of your service global brand to transparently share notjust a watt of your service but the way of your service. i voice said that if you can build a good service in india, you can build a good service around the world. add oil, we started our business in india and have grown to over 35 countries around the world. even in

the uk, so our perspective is if you are not just notjust in the urban city of london also won but in secondary cities. other cities as well. whether it is great yarmouth, brighton we are seeing fantastic demand and a lot of these locations because in these coastal towns for the first time there is a brand that goes in with world cost apology that not only drives great revenue but great appreciations because you see the cost of labour has been growing around the world over the last few years. so now they are responding to customer queries. 0n the merchant side they are projecting revenue and then you can invest in growth

so our perspective is, if you area brand. so our perspective is if you are a brand in europe, us, southeast asia and you're looking at the indian consumers, be global, be engaged with your consumers, know that your customers are demanding world class experiences and it's a huge market. don't expect great results in a short period of time. give it a long term goal and you will find that india will give you great returns. well, on that point, ritesh agarwal, i was going to say good luck. i don't think you need it, but thanks for your time and i'll check in with you soon. around the world we spent nearly $40 billion in the company my next guest runs. 1, ., ~ ., , , .,, ,., ., ~

runs. booking holdings, people book hotel and leisure _ runs. booking holdings, people book hotel and leisure with _ runs. booking holdings, people book hotel and leisure with them - runs. booking holdings, people book hotel and leisure with them in - runs. booking holdings, people book hotel and leisure with them in more | hotel and leisure with them in more than 220 countries around the world and just announced a big bounce in profits. i caught up with the boss to find out what is going on. glenn fogel my friend. a pleasure having you on my show. with the —looking india overtaking china as the most populous nation, i want to ask you glenn, how important is the indian market for you? well, every part of the world is important to us. that's the first thing. but there's no doubt there's incredible opportunity in india for the long run. and it is growing rapidly now for travel, but it's still a relatively small amount compared to other parts of the world. you look at the india, you look at the number of people it is huge. but look at the age i levels of the people. but look at the age levels of the people. aren't they able to actually travel on their own yet? a lot of people very young.

and then you look at the per capita gdp, very low compared to other areas. it's actually going to be something that we have to look at as a long term growth opportunity for us. but it's not necessarily growing in terms of the absolute numbers as much as other areas. glenn, let's talk about that all important market that is china. how has the return of the chinese traveller... has that made an impact yet? well, a couple of things on that. as i said many times, it's hard for the non—chinese travel companies to really do well in china domestically, almost impossible. so really for people like us, we really concentrated more on the outbound part of the travel industry is chinese travellers who want to travel to other parts of the world. and that has been slower than i think some people expected. we weren't expecting to come back so fast, but some people were. we were not because it takes time to get the amount of what's necessary. it's called lift. how many aeroplanes do you have that are going to be able to do that? outbound travel?

and injanuary, for example, the amount of lift in china going outbound was only about mid—teens percentage versus 2019. that's a really small amount. now it's been coming back because they've been able to bring pilots back in, bring back people who are working in the air business. but it's still relatively low compared to what it was in 2019. let's talk about your recent record breaking numbers. i mean, bumper profits, glenn, what's behind those numbers? because when i saw them, my first thought was surely the pandemic bounce back has petered out by now, but it hasn't. and that's the thing. don't forget, i mean, we're talking almost three years of very hard to travel and people in many parts of the world were supported by governments that enable people to establish large amounts of savings that now they want to spend on travel. so we think this is going to go on for some time. and, glenn, you probably know this, but the hilton hotel group have recently warned that while things are strong for now, they say that they may soften

later in the year. i mean, are you seeing the same sort of thing? because from what you're saying, what you've just said, i mean, it doesn't feel like that. what i say is we're not seeing it right now, but i'm also not predicting a future slowdown either. one of the things i've learned after 20 something years, this industry is not make predictions too far ahead because things are always changing. and glenn, some of your sites kayak and open table, for example. they're already using ai, artificial intelligence. so, glenn, just on that, these new forms of ai, how are they going to change your operations? you know, i've been talking about something called the connected trip for a long time. and the idea behind it was a long time ago when i was a young man, i used a human being travel agent. and the way it worked is i'd have a conversation with that travel agent. and that travel agent sort of knew what i'd like and knew what i could afford and would give me a couple of options we'd work together to come up with, be the optimal solution, and then if anything went wrong, ijust call that person to fix

it and that was going to work. now imagine if you've done anything with chat, but you have a conversation. it's conversational, you're going back and forth. think of that is trying to put together your itinerary for travel in the same way, putting together different things going back and forth so it continues to narrow down would be best for you. and then if anything went wrong again, you went back to that same type of chat about conversational ai and it fixed it automatically. that's what the future is. now here's the problem, or one of the difficulties would be a lot of people are concerned about general ai and what that's going to do to society and all the other things of how technology can be used in a negative way versus a positive way. we've seen that throughout time of technology can be used for good or for bad. and glenn, i want to get your thoughts on the current state of the airline industry. it's still not fully back to pre—pandemic levels in terms of capacity. basically, many airlines still just don't have the same amount of planes flying as

they did pre—pandemic. and so with less seats on offer but demand high, these airlines, they are charging some eye watering airfares. is that sustainable, do you think? you know, there's an amazing thing about price. price, you know, comes between the match between supply and demand. and if there isn't a demand, those prices will go down. but you're absolutely right, it's been a problem. airlines have had difficulty providing the same amount of supply as they did previously. and don't forget, they let go a lot of pilots, they let go flight attendants and then go to the airports and the problems there where the airports let go of people. so there aren't as many people at the airports. and some airports are saying we're not going to have as many flights as we used to for a while because we can't staff that. well, if you don't have as many flights and again, as a cut on supply and price is always going to match up so that there's an equilibrium where price and demand match and you get what you're going to get.

the thing is, people are continuing to spend at these very, very high levels. they're continuing to spend that money. and that's why those prices stay up. i assure you that if people did not want to spend that much money, those prices would be coming down. is it too hard of a question to ask when you will see the airlines back to the levels that we saw pre—pandemic? everybody wants to get more planes, their airports want more people through— their airports want more people through the airport, everyone is trying _ through the airport, everyone is irying to— through the airport, everyone is trying to get people back lots of parts _ trying to get people back lots of parts of — trying to get people back lots of parts of the world are very low. you attract _ parts of the world are very low. you attract people to come to work in these _ attract people to come to work in these areas and some people are saying _ these areas and some people are saying i_ these areas and some people are saying i don't know if i want to

work_ saying i don't know if i want to work far— saying i don't know if i want to work far from home in the airports and i_ work far from home in the airports and i have — work far from home in the airports and i have opportunities paying good wages _ and i have opportunities paying good wages nearer to me so could be hard for airports _ wages nearer to me so could be hard for airports and airlines, it gets a lot of— for airports and airlines, it gets a lot of training to get someone to be a pilot— lot of training to get someone to be a pilot or— lot of training to get someone to be a pilot or flight attendant.— a pilot or flight attendant. there is talk about _ a pilot or flight attendant. there is talk about working _ a pilot or flight attendant. there is talk about working from - a pilot or flight attendant. there | is talk about working from home. other driven more business, 0ther driven more business, travelling more because they're working from different locations? it ring sewing a bit different, encouraging people to travel while they still— encouraging people to travel while they still work into mixing their pleasure — they still work into mixing their pleasure and work. some people called _ pleasure and work. some people called it — pleasure and work. some people called it business leisure. you didn't— called it business leisure. you didn't have a lot of people before travelling — didn't have a lot of people before travelling and staying friday nights because they had a lot of business people travelling monday, tuesday and wednesday but now what you see friday nights staying because they had a lot of business people travelling monday, tuesday and wednesday but now what you see is that people are staying

thursday, friday, somewhere far from home, remotely. we are hoping that will help build up travel demand, because people will see an opportunity where they can travel and do work and still enjoy a nice holiday at the weekend. on that point, my friend glenn fogel, of course, the big boss of booking holdings. always a pleasure, glenn, having you on. and no doubt i'll talk to you soon. thank you very much. well, that's it for this week. i hope you enjoyed the show. don't forget, you can keep up with the latest on our global economy on the bbc website or the smartphone app. you can also follow me on twitter. tweet me. i'll tweet you back. you can get me a bbc error. thanks for watching. i'll see you soon. bye bye. hello there. it's a pretty quiet weather story indeed for the upcoming week and beyond because high pressure looks to be dominating the scene quite well. so it's going to be mostly dry. there will be a few showers around,

mostly across the north of the uk. could be quite cool as well to start this new week, certainly monday and tuesday both by day and by night, but it will warm up slightly towards the end of the week. now, the game changer has been this weatherfront, a cold front with some rain on it that's been spreading southwards and eastwards across the country through today. be lying across the southeast by the end of tonight. so a mild—ish night here, but further north west and the clear skies, quite a chilly one to come. could even see a touch of frost or temperatures down to freezing, i should say. some of the sheltered glens across scotland. so chilly start to the day and you can see why we're in this chilly air mass for monday. still high pressure withers. so it's going to be mostly fine and dry. now we lose that weather front from the southeast. it'll take the rain with it and then it's bright for many from monday, sunshine and showers. order of play for the afternoon. most of the showers. scotland, northern ireland, northern and eastern england. quite a keen breeze there. and again across the north of scotland, probably best of the drier weather wales in the south west where we could see

16 degrees, but for most it's the low to mid—teens that is quite cool for this time of year. and then as we move through monday night, largely clear skies, light winds, that cooler air mass is going to turn chilly once again. could see some mist and fog developing here and there. so into tuesday, we've still got high pressure with us, fewer ice bars, i think for many of the winds will be light away from the north of scotland, which we'll also see this week, weather front that could enhance the cloud and shower activity for the northern half of scotland. we could see the odd shower into northern ireland, perhaps northern england too, but the southern half of britain should tend to stay dry after that cool start. should see quite a bit of sunshine, a bit of fair weather, cloud, top temperatures, maybe up to 17 degrees. it's the low to mid—teens again in the north. and then as we move out to tuesday into wednesday, our area of high pressure topples a little bit further eastwards. that will start to bring some slightly milder air off the atlantic. you can see the blue tinge there just fading away as the yellows take over. so it's not going to be a heat wave by any means,

but the temperatures will tend to climb a little bit towards the end of the week and there should be quite a bit of sunshine around. it should be mostly dry, all thanks to high pressure.

live from london — this is bbc news... counting is under way in turkey — in what could be the most important election in the country's modern history. at least five people are believed to have died in myanmar — as a powerful cyclone crashes into the country. president zelensky�*s trip to germany culminates with him being awarded the prestigious charlemagne prize in service of european unity. and — it's british television's big night — the stars come out in force for the baftas. hello i'm lucy grey. counting is under way in turkey's presidential election, with voters deciding whether to end recep tayyip erdogan's long grip on power. turnout is expected to be huge.