TY  - JOUR
AU  - Alfaro,Laura
AU  - Chari,Anusha
TI  - India Transformed?  Insights from the Firm Level 1988-2005
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15448
PY  - 2009
Y2  - October 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15448
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15448.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Laura Alfaro
Harvard Business School
Morgan Hall 263
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Tel: 617/495-7981
Fax: 617/496-5985
E-Mail: lalfaro@hbs.edu

Anusha Chari
301 Gardner Hall
CB#3305, Department of Economics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Tel: 919/966-5346
E-Mail: achari@unc.edu
AB  - Using firm-level data this paper analyzes the transformation of India’s economic structure following the implementation of economic reforms. The focus of the study is on publicly-listed and unlisted firms in manufacturing and services industries. Detailed balance sheet and ownership information permit an investigation of a range of variables. We analyze firm characteristics shown by industry before and after liberalization and investigate how industrial concentration, number, and size of firms evolved between 1988 and 2005. We find great dynamism displayed by foreign and private firms as reflected in the growth in their numbers, assets, sales and profits. Yet, closer scrutiny reveals no dramatic transformation in the wake of liberalization. The story rather is one of an economy still dominated by the incumbents (state-owned firms) and to a lesser extent, traditional private firms (firms incorporated before 1985). Sectors dominated by state-owned and traditional private firms before 1988-1990, with assets, sales and profits representing shares higher than 50%, generally remained so in 2005. The exception to this broad pattern is the growing importance of new private firms in the services sector. Rates of return also have remained stable over time and show low dispersion across sectors and across ownership groups within sectors.
ER  -