This policy prevents optimizing resources across the branch network because banks have neither control over the location of branches nor the
ability to close loss-making branches. In sharp contrast, foreign banks exhibited increasing and constant
as well as decreasing returns to scale. Foreign banks
tend to have smaller branch networks, since they
have not yet fully expanded their business and have
not been forced by regulators to expand branch
networks beyond their optimal size.
Returns to scale characteristics of the frontier
banks are summarized in Table 3. Of the 43 frontier
banks, 33 displayed decreasing returns to scale
(DRS). Only foreign-owned frontier banks showed
any tendency toward increasing (IRS) or constant
returns to scale (CRS).
A final feature of the DEA results concerns the
identity of the banks on the grand frontier. A total of
43 bank/year observations, approximately 10% of
the sample, are rated as being radially efficient. Of
these 43 best-practice observations, 29 come from
the final three years of the sample period. Since
performance variability is greatest during the final
three years, this finding reinforces the 'winners and
losers' conclusion reached above. Of the 21 bestpractice banks in the last two years, 13 are foreignowned, whereas prior to 1990 only eight of 22
best-practice banks were foreign-owned. This reinforces the conclusion reached above concerning the
improved performance of the foreign-owned banks
in recent years. In Table 4 the best-practice banks are
listed by ownership type and by year. It is interesting
to note that only two of 28 public sector banks are
found to be efficient in the final year of the sample
period. However six of 23 foreign-owned banks are
found to be efficient during the same year. This
clearly indicates that with the liberalization of the
banking system in India, foreign-owned banks are
not just playing an active role in Indian financial
markets, they are beginning to set performance standards.