Efficiency and Profitability of Public and Private Sector Banks in India : Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

This paper examines the inter-bank relative efficiency of public and private sector commercial banks in India. This study includes analysis of slacks which remain to be explored for getting a clear picture about the causes of inefficiency. Though the issue is important, no recent study, to the best of our knowledge, has addressed it. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach has been used to examine the efficiency level achieved and to identify the slacks. The results reveal that private (Indian) sector banks are relatively more efficient compared to public sector banks. It was found that State Bank of Hyderabad, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, United Bank of India, Dhanlaxmi Bank and ING Vysya could not achieve 100% efficiency even in a single year, whereas the Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nainital Bank and Yes Bank Ltd., all private sector banks, achieved full efficiency in all the ten years. The strategies suggested in this study to the comparatively less efficient banks would help them not only in improving their efficiency, but also in lowering the cost of their products for the overall benefit of their customers. Efficiency is also found to be directly affecting the profitability of banks