This fascinating and timely work explores in detail the changes in the Indian banking sector over the last 20 years, and puts them into a comparative perspective with the Chinese banking sector. For this purpose, the author develops a detailed indicator-based framework for assessing the liberalization of a banking sector along various process steps based on financial liberalization and transformation studies. The key finding is that while liberalization has improved the sectoral performance, it has so far had no effect on the macro level.

​ The goal of this book is to assess the efficacy of India’s financial deregulation programme by analyzing the developments in cost efficiency and total factor productivity growth across different ownership types and size classes in the banking sector over the post-deregulation years. The work also gauges the impact of inclusion or exclusion of a proxy for non-traditional activities on the cost efficiency estimates for Indian banks, and ranking of distinct ownership groups. It also investigates the hitherto neglected aspect of the nature of returns-to-scale in the Indian banking industry. In addition, the work explores the key bank-specific factors that explain the inter-bank variations in efficiency and productivity growth. Overall, the empirical results of this work allow us to ascertain whether the gradualist approach to reforming the banking system in a developing economy like India has yielded the most significant policy goal of achieving efficiency and productivity gains. The authors believe that the findings of this book could give useful policy directions and suggestions to other developing economies that have embarked on a deregulation path or are contemplating doing so.

The Committee on Financial System (CFS), popularly known as Narasimham Committee, was set up in 1991 to make recommendations for bringing about the necessary reforms in the financial sector. Narasimham Committee appraised and acknowledged the success and progress of Indian banks since the major banks were nationalized on 19 July 1969. Unfortunately, the developments were witnessed only in the field of expansion and spread of bank branches, generation of huge employment and mobilization of savings rather than also in improvement in efficiency. Besides, corruption, fraud, misutilization in public money, outdated technology, and politicization in policy making were found to be major drawbacks in the real progress of the banks. As the banking sector plays an important and crucial role in the economy of a country for its stabilization and balanced growth, major reforms were urgently needed, after 22 years of nationalization, to revive Indian banks. This was not only in the field of profitability, but also in the overall efficiency, viz., better management of non-performing assets (NPAs), satisfying capital requirements, increased cost effectiveness and control, enhanced customer service, improved technology, establishing competitive interest rate, effective man-power planning, introduction of asset-liability management, better productivity, launching new products, and becoming more competent to face the upcoming challenges and competition from foreign as well as private sector banks in the era of globalization and liberalization. The objectives of the study are to examine the need and relevance of reforms in Indian banks, to assess the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks during reforms from different perspectives, to discuss various issues of NPA management in the light of reforms, to measure the performance of the banks of West Bengal during the reforms, to analyse the role of information technology and its relevancy in Indian banks in the era of reforms, and to impart necessary suggestions for the improvement of the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks.

This book provides a historical evaluation of banking reforms and structural changes in India over the past 25 years. Chapters cover issues in consolidation and restructuring, competition and concentration, performance evaluation in terms of cost efficiency and productivity, profitability, non-performing assets and technology use. The authors use specific regression models to measure the impact of these reforms on bank performance during this period and assess whether or not the consolidation phase is now complete. This volume will be of interest to researchers and academicians interested in the financial history of Indian Banking reforms.

An excellent primer for students wanting to learn macroeconomics and policymaking - Kaushik Basu An important and timely contribution to our understanding of the Indian economy - Raghuram Rajan How to maintain financial stability in India? Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India is a classic work to understand this critical subject. In this Penguin edition, with a new introduction, Viral V. Acharya, former Deputy Governor of RBI offers a concrete road map for comprehensive improvement of India's economy. Authoritative and definitive, this is a must read for the students and scholars of Indian economy, policymakers and anyone interested in India's finance sector.

This paper traces the story of Indian financial sector over the period 1950–2015. In identifying the trends and turns of Indian financial sector, the paper adopts a three period classification viz., (a) the 1950s and 1960s, which exhibited some elements of instability associated with laissez faire but underdeveloped banking; (b) the 1970s and 1980s that experienced the process of financial development across the country under government auspices, accompanied by a degree of financial repression; and (c) the period since the 1990s till date, that has been characterized by gradual and calibrated financial deepening and liberalization. Focusing more the third period, the paper argues that as a consequence of successive reforms over the past 25 years, there has been significant progress in making interest and exchange rates largely market determined, though the exchange rate regime remains one of managed float, and some interest rates remain administered. Considerable competition has been introduced in the banking sector through new private sector banks, but public sector banks continue have a dominant share in the market. Contractual savings systems have been improved, but pension funds in India are still in their infancy. Similarly, despite the introduction of new private sector insurance companies coverage of insurance can expand much further, which would also provide greater depth to the financial markets. The extent of development along all the segments of the financial market has not been uniform. While the equity market is quite developed, activities in the private debt market are predominantly confined to private placement form and continue to be limited to the bluechip companies. Going forward, the future areas for development in the Indian financial sector would include further reduction of public ownership in banks and insurance companies, expansion of the contractual savings system through more rapid expansion of the insurance and pension systems, greater spread of mutual funds, and development of institutional investors. It is only then that both the equity and debt markets will display greater breadth as well as depth, along with greater domestic liquidity. At the same time, while reforming the financial sector, the Indian authorities had to constantly keep the issues of equity and efficiency in mind.

Papers presented at the 18th Conference of Public Sector Bank Economists, held in December 1995 at Mahabalipuram, hosted by Indian Overseas Bank; volume to commemorate the golden jubilee of the bank.