Estimation of total factor productivity in the Indian garment industry

Purpose - The Indian garment industry has witnessed a significant change since the inception of the New Textile Policy 2000 that suggests removing the industry from the list of small-scale industries with a view to improving its competitiveness in the global market. As productivity is the driving factor in enhancing the competitiveness of any decision-making entity (firm), a study of total factor productivity (TFP) and its sources can provide vital inputs to a firm for improving its competitiveness. Keeping this as a backdrop, the paper attempts to measure the TFP in the Indian garment-manufacturing firms; identify sources of the TFP; and suggest measures for the firms to enhance their productivity. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on the firm-level panel data collected from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy for the years 2002-2007. One output variable, namely, gross sale and four input variables, namely, net fixed assets, wages & salaries, raw material, and energy & fuel, have been selected. The DEA-based Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) approach has been applied to measure the TFP. Findings - The Indian garment industry has achieved a moderate average TFP growth rate of 1.7 per cent per annum during the study period. The small-scale firms are found to be more productive than the medium-and large-scale firms. The decomposition of TFP growth into technical efficiency change (catch-up effect) and technological change (frontier shift) reveals that the productivity growth is contributed largely by technical efficiency change rather than by technological change. Originality/value - Earlier studies on the Indian garment industry have applied the partial factor productivity approach, which has several limitations. This paper measures the TFP and identifies its sources through applying a non-parametric DEA-based MPI approach. Through this approach, the productivity growth is decomposed into technical efficiency change and technological change. Further, an attempt has also been made to study the variation in the productivity growth rates across location, scale-size and type of garments.