This study analyzes the sources of productivity growth in Indian Sunrise Industries during the period spanning 1975-76 to 1992-93. The technique of parametric frontier production function is used to decompose the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth into two different sources, viz., neutral technological progress and technical efficiency change under the assumption of constant returns to scale. The breaking of the whole period into three-yearly sub-periods shows that the pattern of productivity growth and its different components are not alike in all the sub-periods.

Though, the technological progress is the dominating source of productivity growth, the importance of efficiency change cannot be ignored in these industries. The increasing inefficiencies are the order of these industries in recent years. There has been perceptible movement of the frontier in Indian Sunrise Industries after 1984-85, which indicates the success in improvement planning and implementation to allow for acquisition of new technology. In spite of higher rate of technological change, the productivity growth was found much below the expectation in these industries, mainly because of loss in efficiency.

productivity, technological, industries, progress, Indian, sources, implementation, improvement, movement, neutral, planning, production, returns, technique, assumption, threeyearly, frontier, subperiods