3 Review(s)

The performance of the manufacturing sector of the Indian economy was particularly dismal during the second half of the sixties and the whole of the seventies. There was a break from this trend during the eighties though the performance during the eighties was by no means superlative. The reason for this performance has bee intensively researched. This book examines productivity and other related issues for the Indian manufacturing sector. The prevailing opinion seems to be that technological progress during the seventies was very low, if at all positive. Also, it has been argued that there was a break from this trend in the beginning of the eighties. Results differ significantly from those reached by other authors. The study reveals that the total factor productivity growth in the registered manufacturing sector of the Indian economy was quite significant during the seventies and there was only a marginal improvement in this respect during the eighties. An implication of this finding is that the reason for the dismal performance of the Indian industries, referred to above, has to be sought in the inefficient utilisation of factors of production, not so much on the lack of technical progress. Along with the conventional approach this study also takes into account a somewhat different approach to the estimation of total factor productivity.