The performance of ports is increasingly becoming important with the globalization wave. The performance of ports is highly dependent on the efficiency levels to utilize the resources and therefore measuring port efficiency can reflect their status quo and reveal their advantages and disadvantages in the competitive environment. Since the 1990s, India aimed at an export-led growth emphasizing international trade and necessitating efficient port infrastructure. As a majority of the Indian foreign trade in volume is carried by sea transport, the port efficiency becomes a crucial factor for global competitiveness. Available studies have not paid due attention to the efficiency measurements of the Indian ports. This paper focuses on measuring the efficiency of the major Indian ports, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. Although the DEA technique is widely applied for comparing the efficiency of many decision making units, it has been seldom applied to the Indian Ports. Unlike the econometric analysis, the nonparametric characteristics of calculations in DEA do not require a prior knowledge of weights assigned to the inputs and outputs in the analysis and is therefore, more convenient for measuring the port efficiency. As a feedback to the port operations in India, this paper supplements the existing studies by deriving estimates of relative efficiency for 12 major ports of India.

Seaports play a vital role in the development of an open economy since it links the domestic economy with the rest of the world and thus promotes international trade. As a result, competitive port infrastructure becomes a major issue for policy making in the era of Globalization. An efficient port system enhances the country’s international market access leading to increased trade and higher income having strong direct and indirect multiplier effects on the entire economy.1 The performance of ports is highly dependent on the efficiency levels of ports to utilize the resources and therefore measuring port efficiency and efforts for improvement in the efficiency levels becomes essential to develop a competitive port infrastructure.

globalization, efficiency, resources, competitive, environment, emphasizing, Data Envelopment Analysis, development, ports, policy making, infrastructure, sea transport, trade