World Bank Forecasts India to Become World’s Fastest Growing Economy By 2017

India is on the verge of becoming the fastest growing big economy in the world in 2017. World Bank has released a forecast which shows India edging past the China at an estimated growth rate of 7% in its GDP whereas the rival neighbour China would growth grow at 6.9%. This report was published in the World Bank’s flagship publication called Global Economic Reports. This influential report even warns India that having any possible slackening in the reform momentum would result in slowing down in economy growth and its pace of recovery.

Deceleration in China’s Economy A Boon For Indian Economy

For several years in a row China has projected itself as one of the fastest growing economy but in coming years in expected to slow down to 7.1%. Last year it was growing at a robust pace of 7.4% and it is going decelerate further to 7% and by 2017 it will touch the 6.9% mark. The relative sizes of the two giant economies of Asia shows a wide gap. China’s economy was at $9.2 trillion whereas India’s $1.87 trillion which certainly means that India had a really long way to go. World Bank report has characterised the China’s eventual deceleration as a carefully managed slowdown

India Expected To Touch 7% Growth Rate Earlier Than Expected

The Bangkok based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific commonly known as ESCAP have published separate report which projects the growth of Indian economy at the pace of 6.4% for the current year. International Investment bank Golsman Sachs shows another turn and expects that India would achieve the projected growth rate of 7% a year in advance and it nudges past China smoothly.

Indian economy would be helped by the steep falling in oil prices and other energy commodities as well as by the low interest rate in developing countries. India should employ this falling oil price window by ushering the fiscal and structural reforms and boosts it long-run growth as well as inclusive development. Both ESCAP and the World Bank have rightly pointed towards cutting fuel subsidies and diverting funds for the financial sustainable development.

Global Growth Rate To Rise

Global growth rate is expected to rise by 0.4% to register 3.0% in 2015 from 2.6 in 2014. Further reports suggest it will rise to 3.3% in 2017. Developing countries is expected show a growth rate of 2.2% this year from 1.8% in 2014 and by 2.3 % in 2017.

ESCAP report states that India is very genuinely identified the infrastructural development as the key element for economy growth but it does face shortage of government resources. ESCAP therefore recommends for giving importance to private sector in infrastructure development as well as collaborating with government. World Bank report states that reforms and regulations by the government in India should aim towards boosting foreign direct investment. Increase in investments would help the nation in achieving the growth rate of 7% by 2016.

Mining Stocks take a Toll Due To Plunge in Copper Prices

The concerns over the slowing global economy complimented with the excess supply saw a major slide in the prices of copper. The shares of coppers miners dipped low in the morning trade and future prices of the copper saw a major upheaval wherein tumbled down to a 5 year low. Wednesday drop is incidentally the sixth consecutive decline the copper prices and currently the copper are trading at $5,560 per ton. The sudden and steep decline in prices is causing a significant pain to major mining companies like FCX, Glencore and others whose stocks has taken a beat down by recording a massive low.

The Major Copper Producers Take A Hit

Freeport McMoRan Inc known as FCX which is the largest copper producer listed on stock exchange saw a massive decline of 9.5%. Freeport shares are now at trading at $19.05 which is its lowest registered price since April 2009. Even the other suppliers of the metals shared the same fate and fell considerably low. Glencore Plc (GLEN) which is the third largest producer saw a drop of 12% in London while the First Quantum Minerals fell by 27% in Toronto.

A Kazakhstan copper producer Kaz Minerals Plc (KAZ) also registered a fall by 23% in London while Vedanta Resources Plc (VED) which a giant producer of copper in Indian and Zambia fell by 20% followed by Antofagasta Plc (ANTO) registered a drop of 13%.

Drop In Copper Prices Raises Concern

Investors are keeping a keen interest in the fate of the copper prices which doesn’t seem to have any silver lining for the moment. This precious metal is characteristically referred as ‘Dr. Copper’ due to wide spread usage in various industries. Copper is the recent entrant in the club of commodities market which had registered a sharp plunge in its rates globally after the fall in the prices of the oil. Just like the oil, copper tend to have deep impact upon the world economy as it is key element for the phone lines, cables and other infrastructures. The world largest copper producers are in order of their production ability are Chile, Chiba, Peru, US and Australia.

The sudden and deliberate fall in copper price is a major concern and it is seen as a domino effect rising due to considerable rout in oil prices. It is now spreading to other commodities which include copper as well. This is also perplexing and points towards the imminent slowdown in global economy which is deeper than thought and certainly it wouldn’t be limited to energy market.

World Bank Shows A Slow Global Economic Forecast

Owing to the steep drop in prices of various commodities the World Bank has cut down its global economic growth forecast to just 3% from the 3.4%. The data of Wednesday even pointed out that the December retail sales had declined much more than expected earlier. The price fall in crude oil had made investors quite uneasy about holding on to the energy stocks and their shedding of those would inevitably lead to more losses in various commodities which includes coppers as well.

Google Declares ‘Inflation’ As the Least Searched Topic

The cost of living is increasing day by day due to the rise in the prices of essential commodities throughout the countries. As per the Google analysis of the search trends the term ‘inflation’ comes out a biggest buzzword from the Indian searches. The term inflation has seen a tremendous search interest in past few years but now this has completely died down with such a decline that it is now being declared as the least searched topic on the search engine this year.

This is credited to the rate cuts in the crude oil prices along with new productive reforms initiated by the government. However bad weather coupled with unexpected rain and dense fog and triggered a sudden rise in the wholesale prices of the vegetables.

Inflation Term Showed A Peak In Search in 2013

The searches for the world ‘inflation’ on the Google’s search engine peaked around mid-August to end-October in 2013. But this very trend shows a mightier dip in interest for the same time period in 2014. The successful general elections followed with a robust and stable government at the centre has ensured that the interest remains ignited around the market price war. The new government has effectively managed to address the issue of ‘inflation’ in a more dignified and forceful manner than earlier government. This is being reflected in the decline of the searches based on the inflation in the past few months.

Uttar Pradesh Generated Most Search Queries For Inflation

On national scale the term inflation was being searched from all the parts of countries alike but an in-depth analysis of the regional interest rate shows a much clearer picture. Uttar Pradesh generates the most number of search queries related to inflation followed by Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh along with Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Year based analysis indicates that 2010 was the year which showed highest search interest in ‘inflation’, a slight dip was seen in 2011. People had taken the help of the search engine giant Google’s network to increase their understanding of the inflation and to keep tab on the various developments related to the grave issue of price rise and inflation.

Repo Rate Was Also Searched Frequently

The subsequent rise and fall in the rate inflation in last few years had also affected the bank interest rates to a great extent. Search queries were also generated around the ‘Repo Rate’ which is set by the Reserve Bank Of India in order to counter the inflation. This also shows that how much impact or concern people felt during that particular time interval with the frequent price rises and inflation.

The inflation was at its peak in 2013 and ‘Repo Rate’ related queries showed a peak in the Google search results in month of September.

The drop in the price of crude oil in international market has resulted in the recent roll-backs on the fuel prices. The searches are being continuously made on the repo rate as people are expecting a cut in it before February 2015.

Mobile Payments Spurts Up, Apple Seems to Lost the Plot

People are taking up the mobile payment platforms whole heartedly rather than being extremely concerned in the recent times. An Accenture survey brought out some interesting facts which show that 40 percent of the North American consumers are actively using the Smartphones to make a payment at merchant location. Furthermore the 60 percent consumers who had kept themselves aloof from the mobile payment cited mainly security worries and privacy concerns. But still they show a tendency towards using it once these issues are sorted out.

Payment Technologies Improvement Is Demanded By Consumers

This survey also pointed out that the consumers are embracing the alternative forms of payments as they are quicker and much swifter than the traditional banking methods. Banks are quite sceptic about it and they are paying their keen interest on further developments. The payment technologies are expected to continue to evolve in coming times and the financial intuitions would be required to upgrade their middle and back-office systems in order to supports the customer demands for faster and more real time digital payments. It is the consumers who are driving the changes in the payments and the institutions have to adapt o fulfil their needs.

Apple Pay Promises To Provide Better Services

The Apple made biggest shake up in mobile based payment platform when it announced its feature rich payments system, tentatively titled Apple Pay. This NFC compatible system would allow the users with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to make payments over 200,000 retail locations in the United States. Apple boasts a number of features which is expected to eliminate the consumers top mobile payments concerns.

Apple Gets a Jolt from MCX

MCX is a consortium of over 70 of the largest retailers in the United States which had came up with their own version of mobile wallet called ‘Current C’. These merchants have a huge clout and they are control in one in five retail dollars spent in the US stores. Furthermore they had also announced that they would be accepting the Apple Pay in their stores.

Consumers Sticks With Major Card Providers

This survey has also pointed out toward the trend of sticking up with the established and trusted credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard and Amex which stands at 72 percent. Another 70 percent has said that they use PayPal as an alternative. 79 percent mobile users who find discounts and coupons based on their past purchases find it attractive. 29 percent had affirmed that they are willing to be tracked but only by trusted merchants.

Millennials are driving the changes in the mobile payments systems. They come from the age group of 18-34 and they are actively using mobile wallets. Report suggests that 30 percent of them are eager to try out wearables as a payment device, 29 percent of them uses PayPal at least weekly and 13 percent use digital currencies today. Apple Pay has a unique ability to change the consumer behaviour on a larger scale but their efforts would be based on satisfying the millennial first, if they wish to win over other competitors.