This paper provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of the technical efficiency of commercial banks in India and Pakistan during 1988–1998, a period characterized by far-reaching changes in the banking industry brought about by financial liberalization. Data Envelopment Analysis is applied to two alternative input–output specifications to measure technical efficiency, and to decompose technical efficiency into its two components, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The consistency of the estimated efficiency scores are checked by examining their relationship with three traditional non-frontier measures of bank performance. In addition, the relationship between bank size and technical efficiency is examined. It is found that the overall technical efficiency of the banking industry of both countries improved gradually over the years, especially after 1995. Unlike public sector banks in India, public sector banks in Pakistan witnessed improvement in scale efficiency only. It is also found that banks are relatively more efficient in generating earning assets than in generating income. This is attributed to the presence of high non-performing loans. In addition, it is found that the gap between the pure technical efficiency of different size groups has declined over the years.

Financial liberalization and bank efficiency: a comparative analysis of India and Pakistan

Did financial liberalization ease financing constraints? Evidence from Indian firm-level data

*India embarked on a strategy of economic reforms in the wake of a serious balance-ofpayments crisis in 1991. A central plank of the reforms was reform in the financial sector and, with banks being the mainstay of financial intermediation, the banking sector. The objective of the banking sector reforms was to promote a diversified, efficient and competitive financial system with the ultimate objective of improving the allocative efficiency of resources through operational flexibility, improved financial viability and institutional strengthening. Beginning from 1992, Indian banks were gradually exposed to greater domestic and international competition. India’s approach to banking reforms has been somewhat different from many other countries. Whereas there has not been privatisation of public sector banks, through a process of partial disinvestment a number of public sector banks have been listed in Stock Exchanges and have become subject to market discipline and greater transparency in this manner. Besides, newly opened banks from the private sector and entry and expansion of several foreign banks resulted in greater competition. Consequent to these developments, there has been a consistent decline in the share of public sector banks in total assets of commercial banks and a declining trend of Herfindahl’s concentration index. Improvements in efficiency of the banking system were reflected in a number of indicators, such as, a gradual reduction in cost of intermediation (defined as the ratio of operating expense to total assets) in the post reform period across various bank groups (barring foreign banks), and decline in the non-performing loans. As a result of these changes, there has been an all-around productivity improvement in the Indian banking sector. While the cost income-ratio (i.e., the ratio of operating expenses to total income less interest expense) as well as net interest margin (i.e., the excess of interest income over interest expense, scaled by total bank assets) of Indian banks showed a declining trend during the post-reform period, the business per employee of Indian banks increased over three-fold in real terms exhibiting an annual compound growth rate of nearly 9 percent. At the same time, the profit per employee increased more than five-fold, implying a compound growth of around 17 percent. Branch productivity also recorded concomitant improvements. Such productivity improvements in the banking sector could be driven by two factors: technological improvements, which expands the range of production possibilities and a catching up effect, as peer pressure amongst banks compels them to raise productivity levels. As far as the future of Indian banking is concerned, a number of issues, such as the credit to small and medium enterprises, customers’ interests and financial inclusion, reducing procedural formalities, listing of the public sector banks in the stock exchange and related market discipline are of paramount importance.

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Reforms, Productivity, and Efficiency in Banking: The Indian Experience

This paper empirically estimates and analyzes various efficiency scores of Indian banks during 1997-2003 using data envelopment analysis (DEA). During the 1990s India’s financial sector underwent a process of gradual liberalization aimed at strengthening and improving the operational efficiency of the financial system. It is observed, none the less, that Indian banks are still not much differentiated in terms of input or output oriented technical efficiency and cost efficiency. However, they differ sharply in respect of revenue and profit efficiencies. The results provide interesting insight into the empirical correlates of efficiency scores of Indian banks. Bank size, ownership, and the fact of its being listed on the stock exchange are some of the factors that are found to have positive impact on the average profit efficiency and to some extent revenue efficiency scores are. Finally, we observe that the median efficiency scores of Indian banks in general and of bigger banks in particular have improved considerably during the post-reform period.

/pdf/liberalization-ownership-and-efficiency-in-indian-banking-a-17jhlv4sgy.pdf

Liberalization, Ownership, and Efficiency in Indian Banking: A Nonparametric Approach

This paper examines the issue of convergence of efficiency levels among Indian public sector banks (PSBs) during the post-reforms period spanning from 1992/1993 to 2005/2006. The empirical results indicate that the majority of PSBs have observed an ascent in technical efficiency during the post-reforms years. Further, the inefficient PSBs have been noted to be catching up with the efficient ones. That is, the banks with low level of efficiency at the beginning of the period are growing more rapidly than the highly efficient banks. In sum, the study confirms a presence of convergence phenomenon in the Indian public sector banking industry.

Did efficiency of Indian public sector banks converge with banking reforms

The paper examines the process of banking sector reforms in India. It notes the beneficial impact
to the financial system consequent upon the reforms and highlights the current weaknesses in the banking
system. Against this background, the paper identifies the emerging challenges and discusses ways in
which they could be tackled.
In order to evaluate the efficacy of the prudential norms, we conduct a stress test of credit risk.
Our analysis reveals that, depending on the percentage of loans that graduate into non-performance and
the provisioning made, the immediate hit is a loss of interest income between Rs.21-55 billion. The
maximum level of additional provisioning that can support the present capital adequacy ratio is
determined.

https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1711/1/MPRA_paper_1711.pdf

Emerging Challenges in Indian Banking

The traditional face of banking is undergoing change - from one of mere intermediator to that of provider of quick cost effective and efficient services. In most emerging economies the banking sector is having to face difficult challenges. A discussion on these challenges and issues arising as a result of the ongoing financial sector reforms is important. What are the weaknesses in the system and how may it cope with the critical issues which will arise as a result of the reform process?

M G Bhide

Papers

Emerging Challenges in Indian Banking

Banking Sector Reforms