Productivity growth and policy changes: A decomposition analysis of Indian metallic mining

Abstract

Indian mining sector adopted the National Mineral Policy in 1993 and fully open up for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2005. Prior to 1993, private participation in mining operation was restricted, and public sector played a dominant role in mineral exploration. Metallic minerals hold a vital position in the Indian mining sector and fulfil the input demand of industrial sector by supplying basic raw materials. This paper attempts to estimate and analyse the productive performance of the Indian metallic mining sector by decomposing the total factor productivity (TFP) growth into different components using firm‐level data for the period 1988–89 to 2014–15. Furthermore, the possibility of changes in productivity and its constituent components in different policy regimes have been unravelled. The analysis shows that the average TFP growth of the metallic mining is 0.07% during the study period, which is largely due to technological progress and technical efficiency change. However, TFP growth has declined from 0.28% in 1989–2005 to −0.33% in the period during complete allow of FDI. The decomposition of TFP growth using stochastic production frontier reveals that decline in productivity is due to change in scale efficiency and allocative efficiency components. It could be suggested that to improve the productivity growth further, metallic mining should upgrade to advance technology in operation and take the benefit of the scale factor.