Multiproduct Firms, Product Scope and Productivity: Evidence from India’s Product Reservation Policy

We provide novel evidence showing product scope dynamics within a firm is an important dimension of productivity growth. This channel is identified by leveraging the gradual dismantling of an Indian regulation that “reserved” hundreds of products for manufacture in the small-scale sector. Following the removal of these product market restrictions, product churning and productivity rose. Multiproduct firms who were never in the reserved sector drive this increase, suggesting that the reservation policy constrained their ability to achieve the optimal product mix. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating heterogeneity at the product-firm level in assessing the impact of size-contingent regulation.