Efficiency analysis of Indian banking industry over the period 2008-2017 using data envelopment analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the relative efficiencies of banks of the Indian domestic banking sector by employing various models of data envelopment analysis (DEA) using the panel data of the recent decade (2008-2017). The paper provides a comparative analysis of these models based on the efficiency outputs. It compares the performance of banks based on their ownership and sizes and studies the decade-long trend of productivity using Malmquist indices. Design/methodology/approach This paper estimates overall technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies of 21 public sector banks and 17 private banks. It compares the descriptive statistics of efficiency estimates found out through 18 different DEA models and compares them using two non-parametric statistical tests. It studies the difference in efficiencies based on ownership and size by applying the same statistical tests. It employs the Malmquist index method to study the technological and technical progress in the banks' productivity over the decade of FY 2008-FY 2017. Findings During FY 2016-2017, only 9 out of 38 banks were overall technically efficient with the whole sample having a mean overall technical inefficiency of 5 percent with scale inefficiency contributing more than pure technical inefficiency. The comparative study ascertains that private sector and public sector banks (PSBs) possess efficiencies that are similar based on super-efficiency slack-based model - variable returns to scale and non-oriented, a model that the authors argue to be the most suitable for the real-life business banking scenarios whereas the private sector banks possess better efficiency than the PSBs. The Malmquist indices prove that private sector banks have a higher increase in productivity based on both technological progress and efficiency improvements whereas PSBs had a loss of efficiency and comparatively less improvement in technology. Originality/value This study is based on the panel data of the recent decade (2008-2017) and provides insights into the efficiency scenario of the Indian banking industry and how it changed over the past decade, to the leadership of banks, the banking regulators and the policy makers. The comparative analysis of DEA models based on a sample of Indian banks is first of its kind in the Indian context and helps the researchers to select an appropriate model and delve into further research on the same.