Title: Trade liberalisation and industrial performance: an insight into the performance of cement industry in India

Authors: Sarbapriya Ray, Mihir Kumar Pal

Addresses: 27/4 Chowdhury Para Second Bye Lane, P.O. Santragachi, District – Howrah, 711104, West Bengal, India. ' Department of Economics, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore (West), 721102, West Bengal, India

Abstract: The economic reforms initiated by India Government in 1991 targeted the industrial sector, which have added new dimensions to industrial growth in general and Indian cement industry in particular. Amidst the shift in paradigm from |state-intervention-cum-import substitution| to that of |liberalisation-cum-export led-growth|, a continuous debate is going on among economic analysts of whether liberalisation has significantly contributed to the improvement in industrial growth and performance or not. This paper seeks to measure econometrically the performance of Indian cement industry in the light of some financial indices, capacity utilisation and total factor productivity growth at aggregate as well as disaggregated level. This paper points out that adjusted total factor productivity growth has been improved showing favourable impact of liberalisation, but capacity utilisation and financial indicators reflect dismal declining trend after the path-breaking economic reforms in 1991. There is an urgent need for developing a comprehensive plan for cement industry so that it can survive in the post-liberalised Indian environment and make its presence global.

Keywords: capacity utilisation; cement industry; productivity; trade liberalisation; industrial performance; India; economic reforms; performance measurement; financial indices; capacity utilisation; total factor productivity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2010.035120

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2010 Vol.6 No.3, pp.332 - 353

Published online: 05 Sep 2010 *

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