Technological innovation is critical to secure long-term productivity benefits in any section of society. Investment in ICT is often seen as an imperative for improving banking efficiency. However, the unexpected failure of ICT in enhancing efficiency has unearthed the dilemma observed by Solow, who remarked, “You can see the computer age everywhere, except in productivity statistics”. We analyze the impact of IT investments on the technical and cost efficiency of 72 Indian commercial banks across 2008–2019 using stochastic frontier analysis with exogeneous inefficiency effects and a slacks-based measure of data envelopment analysis. We conclude that the sector has been able to leverage IT investments towards improving efficiency, thereby invalidating the claims of a productivity paradox and providing evidence that supports the birth of a new economy where IT can be viewed as a dynamic force that brings about changes in organizational design, allowing banks to achieve better efficiency levels.

技术创新对于确保社会任何部分的长期生产力收益都至关重要。对 ICT 的投资通常被视为提高银行效率的必要条件。然而，信息通信技术在提高效率方面的意外失败，暴露了索洛观察到的困境，他说：“除了生产力统计，你到处都可以看到计算机时代”。我们使用具有外生低效率效应的随机前沿分析和基于松弛的数据包络分析度量，分析了 IT 投资对 2008 年至 2019 年间 72 家印度商业银行的技术和成本效率的影响。我们得出的结论是，该行业已经能够利用 IT 投资来提高效率，