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Pinterest took a key step to transforming itself from a social phenomenon into a real business. It hired Tim Kendall, formerly of Facebook, to figure out how to monetize its rapidly growing users base, Fortune reports in a big profile of the upstart social network. Kendall worked at Facebook from 2006 to 2010 where he was director of monetization. When he left Facebook, David Fischer, VP of advertising and global operations, wrote a glowing memo about Kendall’s contributions to the company: Over more than four years at Facebook, Tim has had an incredible impact on the company, and in particular on the development of the ads business.

Starting back in 2006, Tim wrote the blueprint for our monetization strategy. (You might be wondering how I know this given I haven’t been here that long, but trust me on this — Tim gave me a copy of the document when I started and strongly “advised” me to read it. It was good advice.). In all seriousness, it is safe to say we would not be where we are today without Tim.

Tim recognized early on not only that advertising could be social, but that it should be social on Facebook. What began as “sponsored stories,” social advertising has transformed the marketing business. And again, Facebook has Tim to thank. At the time of his departure from Facebook, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch wrote Zynga and Twitter were trying to hire Kendall. He didn’t go work for those companies. Instead he’s at Pinterest where he will have to figure out how to convert all those engaged users into real dollars. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story See Also:If You Aren’t A Fan Of Pinterest, Here’s WhyHOLY COW: Pinterest’s Traffic Grew 52% Between January And FebruaryPinterest’s Smart Hiring Tactic

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Pinterest Has Hired The Man Who Came Up With The ‘Blueprint’ For Facebook’s Monetization

Stocks are sizzling in Hong Kong, up 16% this year, but when it comes to hiring it looks more like a bear market, with the city’s employers feeling the gloomiest they have since 2009.

According to survey of 810 local employers conducted by ManpowerGroup, employer hiring expectations are the weakest they’ve been since the fourth quarter of 2009. Over 80% of those surveyed expect that their staffing levels will stay flat in this upcoming quarter, while just 11% anticipate that such levels may expand.

That’s in sharp contrast to the mood last year around this time, when optimism over China and Hong Kong’s economy prompted nearly 70% of Hong Kong respondents to a Hudson Highland Group Inc. survey to say they planned to increase hiring.

Hong Kong’s GDP growth dropped from 4.3% in the third quarter of 2011 to 3% at the end of last year, notes Lancy Chui, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup Hong Kong, resulting in “less confidence” in employment prospects. She also cites “surging retail rents” as a factor in explaining Hong Kong’s tamped-down job creation, as well as financial headwinds more globally.

Plus, the banking sector that lies at the heart of the city has endured job cuts, especially at Western banks  suffering the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis and a generally weaker global economy.

Students about to graduate are still feeling relatively optimistic about their prospects, said Herman Chan, who directs careers and placement at the University of Hong Kong. However, he said, the number of companies that have posted jobs online to target HKU students has dropped slightly, as have the number of jobs they’ve been offering.

“People are always asking me if I have a crystal ball,” Mr. Chan said in an interview, describing himself as “rather cautious” in his attitude toward those current job-seekers. “My expectation is [the job market] will be similar to 2011 for graduates, but not better.”

Across the Asia Pacific region, Manpower reports, their survey found that employers are feeling most buoyant about new hires in India, Taiwan, New Zealand and Singapore—and most wary of adding new staff in Hong Kong and Japan.

Still, if local employers hesitant to invest in more staff needed more persuading, they could refer to a new report (pdf) by the Economist Intelligence Unit that shows Hong Kong’s workforce boasts the highest level of human capital in Asia—earning top marks on quality of education and healthcare, as well as levels of risk-taking and entrepreneurship among its citizens.  Globally, only Dublin outranks Hong Kong on that measure.

– Te-Ping Chen. Follow her on Twitter @tepingchen

Like China Real Time on Facebook for the latest updates.

Cumulative appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar since the end of the dollar peg was more than 20% by late 2008, but the exchange rate has remained virtually pegged since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Economic development has been more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and approximately 200 million rural laborers and their dependents have relocated to urban areas to find work.

China has emphasized raising personal income and consumption and introducing new management systems to help increase productivity.

Nevertheless, key bottlenecks continue to constrain growth.

Its mineral resources are probably among the richest in the world but are only partially developed.

China has acquired some highly sophisticated production facilities through trade and also has built a number of advanced engineering plants capable of manufacturing an increasing range of sophisticated equipment, including nuclear weapons and satellites, but most of its industrial output still comes from relatively ill-equipped factories.

The market-oriented reforms China has implemented over the past two decades have unleashed individual initiative and entrepreneurship, whilst retaining state domination of the economy.

Both forums will start on Tuesday.

In 2009, global ODI volume reached $1.1 trillion, and China contributed about 5.1 percent of the total.

China is aiming to be the world’s largest new energy vehicle market by 2020 with 5 million cars.

Although China is still a developing country with a relatively low per capita income, it has experienced tremendous economic growth since the late 1970s.

Agriculture is by far the leading occupation, involving over 50% of the population, although extensive rough, high terrain and large arid areas – especially in the west and north – limit cultivation to only about 10% of the land surface.

China is the world’s largest producer of rice and wheat and a major producer of sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes.

Hogs and poultry are widely raised in China, furnishing important export staples, such as hog bristles and egg products.

Oil fields discovered in the 1960s and after made China a net exporter, and by the early 1990s, China was the world’s fifth-ranked oil producer.

China is among the world’s four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore.

Coal is the single most important energy source in China; coal-fired thermal electric generators provide over 70% of the country’s electric power.

Most of China’s large cities, like Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, are also the country’s main ports.

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Gloomy Hiring Prospects in Hong Kong

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Siam Square Makeover in Pipeline

For 2009 as a whole, nonetheless, real GDP fell 2.3 percent despite a pick-up in consumption in the fourth quarter, external demand will be the main contributor to growth in the near term.
However, the upside is limited due to political and regulatory uncertainty, including from possible political violence and the Map Ta Phut court case. The government investment plan is proceeding at a slow pace, but public investment should contribute to growth.

Chinese investment funds, Middle Eastern petrodollars — there is a huge amount of new money being channeled into the Asian capital markets.
‘‘Only 35 companies on the SET have market capitalizations of more than $1 billion, with another 80 companies between $200 million and $1 billion.

The modern Thai capital market can essentially be divided into two phases, beginning with “The Bangkok Stock Exchange” which was privately owned, followed by the establishment of “The Securities Exchange of Thailand”.

The inception of the Thai stock market began as far back as July 1962, when a private group established an organized stock exchange as a limited partnership. The group later became a limited company and changed its name to the “Bangkok Stock Exchange Co., Ltd.” (BSE) in 1963.
Despite its well-intended foundation the BSE was rather inactive. Annual turnover value consisted of only 160 million baht in 1968, and 114 million baht in 1969. Trading volumes continued to fall sharply thereafter to 46 million baht in 1970, and then 28 million baht in 1971. The turnover in debentures reached 87 million baht in 1972, but stocks continued to perform poorly, with turnover hitting an all time low of only 26 million baht. The BSE finally ceased operations in the early 1970s.

It is generally accepted that the BSE failed to succeed because of a lack of official government support and a limited investor understanding of the equity market.

Authors: Matthew Dornan and Frank Jotzo, ANU

High oil prices are disproportionately affecting Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific, while renewable energy could replace oil used for power generation and help reduce the risk of cost blowouts.

In Fiji, the oil import bill was around 14 per cent of GDP in 2010 and is likely to be higher this year, with oil prices again remaining above US$100 a barrel. One in every seven dollars of national income is spent on oil — in a country where one-third of households live below the poverty line.

The comparative impact of high oil prices in Australia has been minimal. This is due to Australia’s low oil intensity of GDP, which measures 0.08 — meaning 0.08 tonnes of oil is consumed for every US$1000 of GDP. Oil intensity of GDP is higher in China and India, measuring 0.23 and 0.20, respectively. But these figures are still considerably lower than in Fiji, where the oil intensity of GDP is 0.31.

All oil in Fiji and other Pacific island countries is imported. This exposes Pacific island economies to oil price increases, which affect the terms of trade and balance of payments, and lead to inflation and reductions in real household income. As a result, the Asian Development Bank in 2009 estimated that Pacific island economies were among the most vulnerable in the Asia Pacific to oil price volatility; of the 10 most vulnerable economies in the Asia Pacific, seven were Pacific island countries.

High oil prices raise the cost of electricity and ‘staple’ fuels such as kerosene, thus compromising access to energy. Power costs rise because of a reliance on diesel and oil-based generators, which produce the majority of power in all Pacific island countries with the exception of Papua New Guinea and Fiji. These two countries are able to generate significant amounts of power from renewable technologies. High oil prices also affect the national budget in countries where cost increases are absorbed by state-owned utilities. In the extreme case of the Marshall Islands in 2008, for example, this had major fiscal, economic and social impacts, forcing the government to declare a state of national emergency and requiring a major bailout of the electric utility.

Investments in renewable energy technologies are widely advocated among SIDS in the Pacific and elsewhere as a response to high oil prices. But there has, until now, been no analysis of the risk-mitigation benefits of renewable technologies for SIDS. Many cost-benefit analyses in the electricity sector do not consider financial risk — a significant oversight in the Pacific, considering the widely cited ‘risk-mitigation’ or ‘energy-security’ benefits of renewable technologies.

A recently released discussion paper, Renewable Technologies and Risk Mitigation in Small Island Developing States: Fiji’s Electricity Sector, addresses this gap in knowledge by incorporating financial risk into the economic assessment of electricity sector investments. This provides a measure of both the cost and risk-mitigation impact of investments in renewable technologies in Fiji. These impacts are considered from a system-wide perspective, addressing issues of intermittent power supply from renewable technologies. For example, wind turbines do not produce electricity when there is no wind, and so back-up capacity is needed to prevent shortfalls in power supply.

The analysis shows that there are significant cost-reduction and risk-mitigation benefits associated with investments in renewable technologies in Fiji. Investments that have lower expected average costs generally also have lower cost risks — and these benefits tend to increase in accordance with the extent of renewable energy in the overall portfolio.

But not all investments are equal. The most beneficial investments from a risk/cost perspective are those in low-cost renewable technologies, including geothermal, energy efficient, biomass and bagasse technologies. High-cost renewable technologies such as wind and solar power reduce financial risk but increase generation costs. And investment in hydropower, the Fijian government’s flagship renewable energy program, decreases financial risk but has a minimal impact on generation costs.

The analysis suggests that further investment in low-cost, low-risk renewable technologies in Fiji should be encouraged on energy security grounds and with the goal of lowering generation costs in the electricity grid. Such investments should be prioritised over investment in hydropower generation capacity, according to the study, meaning that the Fijian government’s focus on hydropower projects is mistaken when considered from a system-wide perspective.

More broadly, it is imperative to consider financial risk as well as generation costs when planning investments in electricity generation capacity in Pacific island countries and SIDS. Oil-based power generation currently dominates the electricity sector in the majority of these countries. As a result, this sector is vulnerable to oil price increases and oil price volatility, both of which are predicted in the coming decades by the International Energy Agency. Renewable technologies can reduce financial risk in Fiji and other SIDS where oil-based power generation plays a big role in power supply. These technologies should therefore remain a focus for future development projects in the region.

Matthew Dornan is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Economics and Government, the Australian National University.

Frank Jotzo is Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Economics and Government, and is Director at the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, the Australian National University.

Matthew Dornan and Frank Jotzo recently published a discussion paper, Renewable Technologies and Risk Mitigation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Fiji’s Electricity Sector, at the Crawford School of Economics and Government, the Australian National University.

1. Carbon emission targets and investment in clean technologies
2. Bainimarama’s high-stakes game
3. Preventing Fiji from becoming the pariah state of the Pacific

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Small states, high oil prices: renewable technologies in the Pacific

Someone had to do it. There were rumors, leaks and citings of Flipkart’s music service for quite some time, especially since Flipkart’s acquisition of Mime360 and Chakpak. Now it has reached the expected culmination – a digital music store called Flyte.

As per Pluggd.in, Flyte will be a legal music download service which will offer DRM free mp3 downloads for a price of Rs. 10-15 (US$0.20-0.30). Songs can be downloaded individually, so consumers don’t have to buy a whole album for just one song.

Flipkart is trying something new and it’s rather bold given the rampant piracy India’s music industry grapples with. Flipkart’s launch also coincides with the ban of popular download site Songs.pk. Flipkart has several challenges ahead of it. First and the obvious one is: Why should I pay for music? The second one is there’s free streaming music services online. Both are big challenges to surmount. One thing Flipkart doesn’t have to worry is Apple entering the Indian digital music market. Given Apple’s love for India, that’s one thing I know will not happen.

To surmount these challenges, Flipkart can get the pricing right by probably pricing the song at Rs. 9. Yeah! the amount anyone would spend for a tea or a coffee. Rs. 9 also hits the psychological sweet spot and follows the notorious Bata pricing – the art of pricing something closer to the next whole number to give the impression that consumers are actually paying less.

Free streaming music vs digital downloads
Streaming music services for India are sprouting. If Facebook is the place where you can reach a lot of online Indians, music services like Gaana.com and Saavn, have collaborated with Facebook for a win-win set-up. Free streaming music obviously collides with Flipkart’s digital music downloads. But there is a silver lining.

Mp3 by definition makes a song to go mobile. If someone is relying on their home broadband, they will not get the song on the phone without paying for expensive mobile internet. With smartphones being so ubiquitous, it is only logical to think that people would take their songs on the go.

A calculation of mobile broadband download speed cost versus the cost of song on Flipkart would help. My guess is, they would be pretty close.

It was free till yesterday. Why should I pay?
I already hear ‘we will not pay, we are getting it for free’ slogans and Flipkart is copying Amazon’s model without innovating and not ‘thinking outside the box’. But where’s the box? If there was no box, why should anyone even think outside the box?

Another bit of jargon is ‘reinventing the wheel’. That’s what Flipkart is not doing. It is using whatever worked in the West and trying to apply it to the Indian markets. If it doesn’t work then maybe then the thinking will go outside the box. Also there is only one way of selling music online. I don’t  see multiple ways of doing this. The only thing that can differ is the price.

As for why should I pay? That’s not really a business question.

Now the million dollar question: Will you pay for your music?

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India’s Flipkart enters digital music market, iTunes-style

Where exactly has China parked its $3.2 trillion in currency reserves?

Given the country’s gargantuan status as an investor in the debt-laden industrialized world’s government bonds, this is a crucial question for global financial markets and for economies in general.

And the fact is there is no precise answer. We know generally that a large chunk of China’s reserves are held in U.S. Treasury securities, a smaller portion sits in euro assets, and that more recently some have been steered into Australian and Canadian bonds. But we don’t know the details, and when the sums are as large as this, every incremental shift can have a significant impact on prices.

That of course is why China stays mum. Showing its hand could cause the market to move against it, further undermining the measly returns it makes on a conservatively positioned portfolio.

But it’s also why analysts place a rhetorical asterisk into the monthly Treasury International Capital (TIC) System report. December’s release, unveiled earlier Tuesday, showed that Treasury securities officially registered to China fell by $60 billion from 12 months earlier. But as any bond trader knows, China’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds frequently disguise their Treasury purchases by channeling them through proxies, typically in the U.K.

It’s suspicious, then, that the TIC report states that Treasurys registered to investors in the U.K. rose by $144 billion last year. That’s almost as much as the $160 billion surge attributed to Japan, whose giant yen-weakening interventions left it sitting on piles of dollars.

Continue reading on Market Beat

After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, China in July 2005 revalued its currency by 2 % against the US dollar and moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies.

The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, and is focusing on nuclear and other alternative energy development.

The People’s Republic of China is the world’s second largest economy after the United States by both nominal GDP ($5 trillion in 2009) and by purchasing power parity ($8.77 trillion in 2009).

Some economists believe that Chinese economic growth has been in fact understated during much of the 1990s and early 2000s, failing to fully factor in the growth driven by the private sector and that the extent at which China is dependent on exports is exaggerated.

Agricultural output has been vulnerable to the effects of weather, while industry has been more directly influenced by the government.

China has acquired some highly sophisticated production facilities through trade and also has built a number of advanced engineering plants capable of manufacturing an increasing range of sophisticated equipment, including nuclear weapons and satellites, but most of its industrial output still comes from relatively ill-equipped factories.

China’s ongoing economic transformation has had a profound impact not only on China but on the world.

The ministry made the announcements during a press conference held in Xiamen on the upcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Forum and the 14th China International Fair for Investment and Trade.

“The growth rate (for ODI) in the next few years will be much higher than previous years,” Shen said, without elaborating.

China reiterated the nation’s goals for the next decade – increasing market share of pure-electric and plug-in electric autos, building world-competitive auto makers and parts manufacturers in the energy-efficient auto sector as well as raising fuel-efficiency to world levels.

China’s challenge in the early 21st century will be to balance its highly centralized political system with an increasingly decentralized economic system.

Even with these improvements, agriculture accounts for only 20% of the nation’s gross national product.

In terms of cash crops, China ranks first in cotton and tobacco and is an important producer of oilseeds, silk, tea, ramie, jute, hemp, sugarcane, and sugar beets.

Fish and pork supply most of the animal protein in the Chinese diet.

Coal is the most abundant mineral (China ranks first in coal production); high-quality, easily mined coal is found throughout the country, but especially in the north and northeast.

China is among the world’s four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore.

In the 1990s a program of share-holding and greater market orientation went into effect; however, state enterprises continue to dominate many key industries in China’s socialist market economy.

Great inland cities include Beijing and the river ports of Nanjing, Chongqing, and Wuhan.

Originally posted here:
The $3.2 Trillion Question: Where are China’s Currency Reserves?

High gas prices? Purchase restrictions in mega cities? Neither can keep China from pursuing its ardent love affair with the automobile.

Such at least is the view of senior J.D. Power analyst Geoff Broderick, who says the power of that love could push vehicle sales in China to as high as 35 million a year by 2018 — a near doubling of the market.

Auto sales hit 18 million vehicles in China last year. In the U.S., meanwhile, overall auto sales last year totaled 12.7 million.

“We’re bullish on China,” Mr. Broderick said in an interview in Beijing on Friday. “The whole center of gravity in the global auto market has shifted from the West to the East, and this (China) is where we’re going to see action, at least over the next several years.”

The driving force behind that sunny view: Growing discretionary income in China’s smaller, “lower-tier” cities.

Just half a decade ago, in 2005, only about 20% of global demand for automobiles came from so-called emerging markets, according to Mr. Broderick. By 2010, roughly half of global auto demand – 51% to be precise – came from developing economies. China is the dominant, 800-pound gorilla of the emerging world, becoming the world’s biggest vehicle market in 2009 and retaining that position ever since.

Still, over the past year, demand for automobiles in China has slowed significantly. Last year auto sales grew only 5%, and many analysts and foreign auto maker executives in China say the era when yearly demand increases of more than 20% were common isn’t coming back, at least in the near term. Most forecasts for this year point to year-on-year growth of less than 10%.

Those forecasts point to, among other factors, a cancellation last year of generous government sales incentives for small cars and license-plate restrictions in mega cities like Beijing and Shanghai aimed at alleviating world-famous traffic congestion.

But according to Mr. Broderick, “an appreciable increase” in discretionary spending by a surging middle class of consumers in lower-tier cities, many of them located in China’s inland western region, will likely compensate for growth impediments elsewhere in the market.

“Those second-tier and third-tier cities in China are going to be the real battle ground for auto makers,” he said. “Those cities have a lot of room for per capita income to rise.”

Another key source of Mr. Broderick’s optimism comes from a comparatively low rate of car ownership in China, especially in those lower-tier cities. In China overall, only about 50 people per 1,000 people currently own cars, he said, repeating a widely used estimate. That car “penetration” rate is unlikely any time soon to reach levels seen in the U.S., where nearly 900 people per 1,000 own cars, he said. “But there’s a lot of room to grow.”

Overall demand for automobiles in China over the next seven years should hit “30 to 35 million” vehicles, he said.

There are notable challenges to growth besides the purchase restrictions, including a lack of sufficient roads, high gasoline prices, and more stringent fuel-economy and emission requirements.

But unless gas prices or taxes hurt the consumer’s pocketbook “in a serious way,” Mr. Broderick said. “I don’t think it’s going to dent the market’s longer-term momentum.”

– Norihiko Shirouzu

China has generally implemented reforms in a gradualist or piecemeal fashion.

The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, and is focusing on nuclear and other alternative energy development.

The People’s Republic of China is the world’s second largest economy after the United States by both nominal GDP ($5 trillion in 2009) and by purchasing power parity ($8.77 trillion in 2009).

Available energy is insufficient to run at fully installed industrial capacity, and the transport system is inadequate to move sufficient quantities of such critical items as coal.

The two sectors have differed in many respects.

The technological level and quality standards of its industry as a whole are still fairly low, notwithstanding a marked change since 2000, spurred in part by foreign investment.

By the early 1990s these subsidies began to be eliminated, in large part due to China’s admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which carried with it requirements for further economic liberalization and deregulation.

On top of this, foreign direct investment (FDI) this year was set to “surpass $100 billion”, compared to $90 billion last year, ministry officials predicted.

According to the ministry, China’s ODI grew by 1.1 percent from a year earlier to $56.53 billion, which includes investment of $47.8 billion in non-financial sectors worldwide, up 14.2 percent year-on-year.

China is expected to have 200 million cars on the road by 2020, increasing pressure on energy security and the environment, government officials said yesterday.

China’s challenge in the early 21st century will be to balance its highly centralized political system with an increasingly decentralized economic system.

Since the late 1970s, China has decollectivized agriculture, yielding tremendous gains in production.

Except for the oasis farming in Xinjiang and Qinghai, some irrigated areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, and sheltered valleys in Tibet, agricultural production is restricted to the east.

Livestock raising on a large scale is confined to the border regions and provinces in the north and west; it is mainly of the nomadic pastoral type.

China is one of the world’s major mineral-producing countries.

Alumina is found in many parts of the country; China is one of world’s largest producers of aluminum.

In the 1990s a program of share-holding and greater market orientation went into effect; however, state enterprises continue to dominate many key industries in China’s socialist market economy.

As part of its continuing effort to become competitive in the global marketplace, China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001; its major trade partners are the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany.

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China to Buy More Than 30 Million Cars a Year by 2018, Says J.D. Power

From WSJ’s Davos blog:

Standard Chartered PLC remains bullish on the major Asian economies of India and China, encouraged by the policy outlook for the two countries this year, the bank’s Asia chief executive said.

The U.K.-based lender, which focuses almost exclusively on Asia and emerging economies, also sees European rivals retreating from those markets as they are beset with challenges at home, Standard Chartered Asia Chief Executive Jaspal Bindra said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

In India last year, Standard Chartered confronted a range of challenges including slowing growth, rising interest rates and a depreciating rupee. Revenue from the bank’s India unit fell by 12% in the first half of 2011 and by the “mid-teens” in the third quarter, Group Finance Director Richard Meddings said earlier.

Mr. Bindra blamed higher interest rates. “Interest rates went up almost 400 basis points in a short period, and it is very difficult, if you do wholesale business with the best clients in the country, to pass on a 400 basis point increase at any one time.”

But the central bank’s surprise move to loosen monetary policy this week has sent a “clear signal” that there will be no further rate hikes and the government is shifting its focus to promoting growth, Mr. Bindra said.

The Reserve Bank of India Tuesday held its key lending rate steady for a second straight policy meeting but cut the minimum cash reserve requirement by 0.50 percentage point to ease liquidity.

“The government has for a long time shown a huge preference to manage inflation through monetary policy,” he said. But following the RBI cut, “I think we will see a more balanced approach.”

Mr. Bindra also said that the recent “normalization” of the rupee exchange rate — it is up 6% against the dollar so far this year after declining 15.1% in 2011 — will encourage renewed foreign investment.

In China, Mr. Bindra believes authorities will be successful in guiding the economy to a “soft landing” ahead of a leadership transition at the end of the year.

“The priority for all of 2012 and beyond is going to be ‘how do we keep things stable,’ as they have this transition of power at the top,” he said, adding that not just the top political leadership, but also the leaders of major financial institutions and regulators are all due to be reshuffled. “It is quite a massive-scale change of power.”

As European banks regroup and retreat from Asia, Standard Chartered sees an opening. The trend is especially pronounced in industries including shipping and commodities and in markets like Indonesia and India where dollar liquidity is scarce, he said.

“It gives us an opportunity to scale up market share, and second, it gives us a little bit of pricing advantage.”

– Aaron Back. Follow him on Twitter @AaronBack.

In recent years, China has re-invigorated its support for leading state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to “economic security,” explicitly looking to foster globally competitive national champions.

In 2009, China announced that by 2020 it would reduce carbon intensity 40% from 2005 levels.

The government has also focused on foreign trade as a major vehicle for economic growth.

The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978.

The disparities between the two sectors have combined to form an economic-cultural-social gap between the rural and urban areas, which is a major division in Chinese society.

The technological level and quality standards of its industry as a whole are still fairly low, notwithstanding a marked change since 2000, spurred in part by foreign investment.

China’s increasing integration with the international economy and its growing efforts to use market forces to govern the domestic allocation of goods have exacerbated this problem.

The growth in both outbound investment from, and inbound investment to, China reflects the nation’s rising economic power and attractiveness as an investment destination.

” Although the figure is already “quite amazing,” the volume is “not large enough” considering China’s economic growth and local companies’ expanding demand for international opportunities, Shen said.

It also aims to sell more than 15 million of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world each year by then.

Although China is still a developing country with a relatively low per capita income, it has experienced tremendous economic growth since the late 1970s.

Since the late 1970s, China has decollectivized agriculture, yielding tremendous gains in production.

China is the world’s largest producer of rice and wheat and a major producer of sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes.

China ranks first in world production of red meat (including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork).

Growing domestic demand beginning in the mid-1990s, however, has forced the nation to import increasing quantities of petroleum.

China’s leading export minerals are tungsten, antimony, tin, magnesium, molybdenum, mercury, manganese, barite, and salt.

Major industrial products are textiles, chemicals, fertilizers, machinery (especially for agriculture), processed foods, iron and steel, building materials, plastics, toys, and electronics.

Brick, tile, cement, and food-processing plants are found in almost every province.

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Davos: StanChart Bullish on China, India