Benchmarking Indian banks using DEA in post-reform period: a progressive time-weighted mean approach

The ranking of banks based on single period data could mislead the management as well as customers, as many one-time influences may wrongly portray banks with lasting strategy. This study uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to rank Indian banks based on their performance over 13 years of post-reform period by using the progressive time-weighted means of variable benchmarking super-efficiency scores. Furthermore, the relative performances of these banks are evaluated against the ‘best practice’ bank by using the fixed benchmarking DEA model. The results show no statistical evidence of dominance of either public sector banks over private sector banks or vice-versa when their efficiencies are evaluated with the common frontier. However, the variations in efficiency across the public sector banks are comparatively less as compared with private sector banks. The efficiency based on the ownership frontier further supports our argument that the public sector banks are relatively more consistent in their performance over the years as well as across the banks. The results show a huge difference in the ranking of some of the banks when the usual method of ranking is compared with progressive time-weighted mean approach, where the performance of the banks over the years is taken into account.     

Poverty Alleviation through Partnerships: A Road Less Travelled for Business, Governments, and Entrepreneurs

While investigating the role of business and accepting that profitable partnerships are the primary solution for poverty alleviation, we voice certain concerns that we hope will extend the authors?? discourse in Alleviating Poverty through Profitable Partnerships. We present a model that we believe can serve as an effective framework for addressing these issues. We then establish the imperative of inclusive growth. Here, we engage with the necessity of formulating strategies that focus on the pace and, importantly, the pattern of economic growth, including its social and cultural dimensions. We also deliberate on the parameters of inclusive growth with the overriding objective of ensuring that multiple strata of society share the benefits of globalization. Turning to the critical role of institutions in promoting social welfare, we explore the impact of government policy vis-à-vis the leverage enjoyed by other social institutions. Despite the reality that state and private interests often operate at cross purposes, we argue that government must still be an integral part of the solution matrix. With direction from other social institutions, entrepreneurial forces can be unleashed to tackle endemic poverty prevalent in the base of the pyramid. We then provide an in-depth case study in which the availability of telecommunications in rural areas was utilized as a means to foster development and ensure inclusive growth. The conclusion examines lessons learned while operationalizing the model, and spells out the impact of our enablers at ground level.