Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Historical estimates of productivity growth in India's cement sector vary from indicating an improvement to a decline in the sector's productivity. The variance may be traced to the time period of study, source of data for analysis, and type of indices and econometric specifications used for reporting productivity growth. Our analysis shows that in the twenty year period, 1973 to 1993, productivity in the aluminum sector increased by 0.8% per annum. An econometric analysis reveals that technical progress in India's cement sector has been biased towards the use of energy and capital, while it has been material and labor saving. The increase in productivity was mainly driven by a period of progress between 1983 and 1991 following partial decontrol of the cement sector in 1982. We examine the current changes in structure and energy efficiency in the sector. Our analysis shows that the Indian cement sector is moving towards world-best technology, which will result in fewer carbon emissions and more efficient energy use. However, substantial further energy savings and carbon reduction potentials still exist.