Petroleum Refining in India: Reform and Technical Efficiency in Public Sector Enterprises

Petroleum refining constitutes the largest public sector industry in India in terms of turnover. On view of importance of the sector and the broader trend of shifting emphasis from public to private management there is a natural interest in the nature of job in refineries and the efficiency with which it is being done. In trying to address these queries the book starts with a discussion on the nature of petroleum crude and the process of its refining. Discussion then proceeds to the evolution of the industry in India and pricing policy for the refined products. The book takes a critical view of the concepts of productivity and efficiency. An entire chapter is devoted to explain the measurements of variable relevant for the study of efficiency; particularly the critical problem of measurement of capital input has been discussed in some details.