The Indian tiger's roar wil drown out the Chinese dragon's in 2012, if the latest forecast by the World Bank is anything to go by. The Bank predicts a higher growth for India vis-a-vis its neigbour in its economic outlook report, 2011 released on Thursday.

China's growth will lose steam in 2012, according to the Washington based international bank. “India will grow at 8.7 percent in 2012, compared to China’s 8.4 percent, edging past with a marginally slowing growth rate,” the World Bank outlook said. But the report was silenton how exactly India will manage to scrape past the fastest growing economy in the world.

India and China have led the worldwide growth after the financial crisis hit the world powers in September 2008. Both the countries will have slower growth in 2012 compared to that in 2010. But in 2011, China will still remain ahead of India in terms of growth. According to the World Bank, “China’s growth will touch 8.7 percent in 2011 from 10 percent in 2010, while India is set to grow by 8.4 percent in 2011.”

The bank also mentioned that the global GDP, which expanded by 3.9 percent in 2010, is expected to slow to 3.3 percent in 2011. However, it also said that developing countries will drive the growth in 2011 and 2012, and noted in its report that most of the developing countries weathered the financial crisis by the end of 2010.

The developing countries' growth rate is projected at 6 percent for 2011 and 6.1 percent in 2012. “On the upside, strong developing-country domestic demand growth is leading the world economy, yet persistent financial sector problems in some high-income countries are still a threat to growth and require urgent policy actions,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president for development economics.

“Developing countries face three main short-term risks-tensions in financial markets, large and volatile capital flows, and a rise in high food prices,” the report mentioned.

Soaring food prices and high inflation have hit most of the countries including India in recent months. The World Bank also warned that high food prices. “If global food prices rise further along with other key commodities, a repeat of the conditions in 2008 cannot be excluded,” cautioned Andrew Burns, manager of Global Macroeconomics in the World Bank’s Prospects Group.

Warning of a global growth slowdown is also in the report. “The World Bank estimates that global GDP, which expanded by 3.9 percent in 2010, will slow to 3.3 percent in 2011, before it reaches 3.6 percent in 2012.”

Read the economic outlook of 2011.