Measuring The Efficiency Of Resource Use In Indian Manufacturing Industries In Pre And Post Reform Periods

Economists have come to believe that using resources efficiently can lead to differences in the growth rates of economies. Efficient use of resources is known to improve the standard of living of the people thereby increasing their welfare. However, initially ‘capital’ and later on ‘labour’ attracted the attention of the economists. The need for the efficient use of resources was only recognized as an important determinant in the growth of economies in the fifties. Economists believe that the developing countries in particular need to concentrate on improving the efficiency of their use of resources, since these economies have an increasing number of people to feed and proportionally little resources at their disposal. Whenever there is talk of efficiency regarding the use of resources it means that all the resources that are used in the process of production should be used efficiently. These resources are: capital, labour, raw materials, power, fuel and the skills of the entrepreneur. Efficiency is reflected in the unit or average cost of production and in the quality of goods. Before the introduction of the reforms, the Indian industrial sector was characterized by numerous controls, which restricted internal as well as external competition. However, after the reforms such controls were loosened and it is now simply expected that the Indian industrial sector uses its resources efficiently. The present study examines whether there have been significant reductions in the components of the average variable cost in the post-reform period as compared to the pre-reform period. Furthermore, it analyses whether there has been any noticeable increase in advertising expenditure of the firms in the post-reform period.

This volume comprehensively captures trends in productivity and its determinants in the post-reform period for Indian manufacturing. It provides an up-to-date survey of different methods employed in measuring productivity and their applications across organized and unorganized sectors, including food, beverages, furniture, gems, chemicals, petroleum and rubber, metals and minerals, paper products, publishing, textiles, etc. The essays examine the uneven impact of economic reforms and growth on the performance of the manufacturing sector. This will be especially useful to students and scholars of economics, business and management, policymakers and governmental agencies, particularly those interested in Indian economy and manufacturing.

The book outlines the importance of Indian manufacturing sector and its growth under alternative policy regimes. The authors highlight the significance of various firm-specific and macroeconomic factors on the level of efficiency and profitability of the firms operating in the diverse manufacturing sector during the post-liberalization era. The book also examines the dynamic relationship between the select manufacturing sector-specific stock market indices and the various macroeconomic variables.

The empirical evidence linking economic reform in developing countries with gains in productivity and efficiency is both limited and inconclusive. Using large firm-level data collected by the Reserve Bank of India, this book examines the impact of reform on productivity and competition for the Indian manufacturing sector in the eighties. Relying on econometric estimates of pre- and post-reform productivity growth, the study finds evidence of significantly higher productivity growth rates after the mid-eighties both at the aggregate and two-digit sector levels. The author seeks corroborating evidence by developing a framework that enables him to simultaneously estimate economies of scale, a measure of optimal labour utilization and the mark-up of price over marginal cost as an indicator of competitiveness. Though he finds evidence of better labour utilization, there is no indication of reduced market power or any significant departure from constant returns to scale in the post-reform period. He concludes that even the limited reforms of the eighties led to productivity gains which were achieved largely through better resource use.

This book highlights methodological approaches for the economics of sustainable development and brings together recent empirical work done in India, especially by Dr. Surender Kumar and Dr. Shunsuke Managi. Various chapters in this book use Indian data to show the very wide applicability of methodologies in the theory of production for dealing with many empirical issues of environmentally sustainable development in a developing country. I congratulate the authors for the time and effort devoted to compiling this very useful reference on the subject and the publishers for publishing this volume. The methodologies of cost functions, distance functions, and production fu- tions have been used in many recent studies and in the studies reported in this book for environmental valuation. Environmental valuation is required for designing policy instruments like pollution taxes for sustainable development and for meas- ing green GDP. The UN methodology of integrated environmental and economic accounting provides ways of measuring the cost of maintaining environmental resources at sustainable levels or the maintenance cost for estimating green GDP. Some of the chapters in this book show that the methodology of distance functions could be used for estimating the cost of environmentally sustainable development.

This volume comprehensively captures trends in productivity and its determinants in the post-reform period for Indian manufacturing. It provides an up-to-date survey of different methods employed in measuring productivity and their applications across organized and unorganized sectors, including food, beverages, furniture, gems, chemicals, petroleum and rubber, metals and minerals, paper products, publishing, textiles, etc. The essays examine the uneven impact of economic reforms and growth on the performance of the manufacturing sector. This will be especially useful to students and scholars of economics, business and management, policymakers and governmental agencies, particularly those interested in Indian economy and manufacturing.

1.1 Production: Cost of production is the deciding factor for supply which depends upon prices of raw materials and its physical relation between input and output. It is the physical relation between input and output which determines the cost of production. Production represents functional relationship between quantities of inputs and amount of output produced. Production is an economic activity. Production is used for an activity of making some material. In economics, production is used in a wider sense. 1.2 Importance of Production: Price theory plays an important role in the theory of production. This provides a base for analysis of relationship between costs and amounts of output. Cost along with demand and supply of a product determine the price of a product. Cost of production is determined by the prices of inputs of production and thereby the price of product. Secondly, the basis of theory of firm demand for factors of production is theory of production. The theory of production plays a pivotal role in theory of firm. The theory of firm deals with the level of output whichwill produce in turn the maximum profits. The firm’s marginal and average costs of production decide the profits maximizing output besides the demand conditions. In addition to the prices of inputs, the changes in marginal and average costs of production as a result of increase in output are determined by the physical relationship between inputs and output.

This book explores the role of microeconomic and macroeconomic factors in determining the level of efficiency, profitability and the stock market performance of the firms in the Indian manufacturing sector. It is a go-to reference book in comprehending the real issues of the manufacturing sector in the changing Indian environment