The book examines three important research questions against the backdrop of increasing private sector participation in the Indian mining industry. The questions are: i) are private sector mining firms more productive than public sector mining firms? ii) do public sector mining firms comply with environmental regulations better than their private counterparts? and iii) do public sector mining firms perform better in social compliance than the private mining firms? Using firm level data from 1988–89 to 2005–06, the author finds that Total Factor Productivity (TFP) levels of private mining firms are significantly higher than those of public sector firms in three sectors – metallic, non-metallic and coal. In the petroleum sector, private sector firms outperformed the public sector firms in the initial years, while later on, the productivity of public sector firms exceeded that of private firms in a few years. The book examines the environmental performance of public and private mining firms in the context of Indian chromite mining industry using four indicators: namely, overburden management, air pollution, the quality of mine drainage water after treatment, and the quality of ground water. The author constructs a multidimensional environmental defiance index for comparing the aggregate environmental performance across ownership groups and does not find significant differences between the environmental performance of public and private mining firms. Both public and private mining firms have failed to comply with the environmental regulations. The author compares the social compliance of public- and private-sector mining firms by conducting a survey of households who have surrendered their land to the mining firms. It is found that the majority of households were dissatisfied with the compensation paid by both public and private sector mining firms. Furthermore, it is observed that there is no significant difference between the compensations provided by the public and private sector mining firms.

Massive private investment that complements public investment is needed to close the demand-supply gap and make reliable power available to all Indians. Government efforts have sought to attract private sector funding and management efficiency throughout the electricity value chain, adapting its strategy over time.

This book assesses the performance of Indian industries from the perspectives of trade, investment, policy, and development incentives. It evaluates the relevance and the macro- and microeconomic impact of industrial policy on growth in different sectors of industry. The book examines India’s key policy initiatives and economic and institutional plans through many decades and examines their short and long-term effects on industrial environment and performance. It measures India’s strategic policies and efforts to promote industrialization against similar initiatives in countries like Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The volume also contextualizes the performance of different sectors of industry such as automobiles, electronics and information technology, and pharmaceuticals, among others, within the larger framework of global economic scenario and competition. This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of economics, political economy, industrial development and policy, and South Asia studies.

The crises emanating from the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 Pandemic have underscored, the emergency role of the State and its smooth, seamless reactivation, for situations when private activity and markets are disrupted. In many countries, SOEs have been a crucial part in delivering on that effort as agents of the State. While SOEs are increasingly sought to play a role during emergency situations, evidence suggests that they misallocate capital and mismanage resources. This is indicative of the conflicts of interests in owning and regulating enterprises as well as between the commercial and non-commercial objectives of SOEs, crony capitalism, the private agenda of public officials, internal management of SOEs, the significant role played by state owned banks and financial institutions and the conflicts that arise in the State's primary role vs. its ownership of enterprises. The studies of eight countries from different regions undertaken for this book, provide answers to these key policy questions related to state capitalism. Generalizing from the results of multi-country studies to arrive at universally applicable predictions, prescriptions, and policy recommendations, is inherently difficult. Individual countries are quite different in their socio-economic, historical, political, and institutional circumstances. So are their experiences, as the eight country studies highlight, even as the book attempts to extrude, from available research, the principal common characteristics of, and practices followed by, successful SOEs independently of country context. Among other conditions, the two most important conclusions that can be drawn from the country studies are that competition and regulation rather than ownership per se is key to efficiency.