Shows
DataSpotS2E7: Six Years of GSTIn this episode, we embark on a data-driven exploration of India's GST since its inception in 2017. As of June 2023, GST has completed 6 years, so, we thought of analyzing the GST data.
As we navigate through the twists and turns, starting from the early challenges and leading up to the present state of affairs. Our exploration unveils the connection between how the economy grows, the way taxes are structured, and how policies are put into action. We'll take a closer look at how GST has impacted different aspects of India's economy, from giving smaller businesses a boost in the formal...
2023-08-1814 min
DataSpotS2E6: Ethanol: From Farm to FuelsIf you think that mixing drinks is meant for humans alone, then you might be wrong. Well, humans have developed cocktails for our vehicles too and they are called biofuels. Although the name is too boring for cocktails, they are very fancy.
One of the biofuels is named ethanol-blended petrol. The recipe is simple: mix ethanol and petrol in a ratio of 10:90. USA and Brazil are at advanced stages where they are mixing more than 50-80% ethanol. India is in third place globally when it comes to ethanol production. And we are progressing at a rapid pace.
India has...
2023-08-0415 min
DataSpotS2E5: The Services Export StoryWhen we think of exports the thing that comes to our mind is goods – phones, televisions, machinery, oil, plastics, cars etc. We think of huge ships through which goods are transported across countries. Even the government policy is largely focused on goods exports. However, it is services exports where India is having the most traction.
Services exports have been consistently growing faster than goods exports for more than two decades now and thus services exports have grown relative to goods exports. While India is the 18th largest exporter of Goods, it is the 7th largest exporter of services.
Will ou...
2023-07-2109 min
DataSpotS2E4: Agriculture: Beyond RainfallEvery year in May, we stumble upon one piece of news and that is - when and how much will it rain this monsoon season? If it rains less, we face issues like farmers’ distress, lower levels of water reservoirs, inflation, etc. But if it rains more, all the infrastructure fault lines erupt.
Right now, we are at a time when monsoon has begun but was delayed. Many people believe that deficient, surplus or abnormal rains can pull down the agriculture GDP. It is obvious and commonsensical to believe that this could be true. Although this might be tr...
2023-07-0710 min
DataSpotS2E3: Passive Power: The rise of Passive Mutual FundsDo you prefer investing in Nifty Index/ETFs instead of specific stocks? Are you a person who is always searching for sectoral or thematic Index Mutual Funds or ETFs?
Passively managed funds such as ETFs and Index funds are becoming very popular not just globally but in India. Did you know that out of the total mutual fund AUM (assets under management), 16% of it is in the passive form in India? And 40% in the USA? What are the reasons for the growing popularity of passive funds? It is not just institutional money that is driving this growth but retail...
2023-06-2315 min
DataSpotS2E2: Japan: From Exporter of Goods to Exporter of CapitalOnce upon a time, Japan was growing at a rapid pace. It was an export powerhouse too. In the '80s, its export share crossed 10% of global exports. Now, things have changed. It has been caught in many socio-economic problems that hinder its growth. Its export engine no longer outpaces others. Its share in global exports has fallen to just 3% in 2022, even lower than it was in the 1960s! The country now runs a trade deficit.
But still, the country runs a large current account surplus. Sustained low interest rates have meant that the country is now one of...
2023-06-0912 min
DataSpotS2E1 - The Utility of the Union BudgetIndia’s central government presents the Union Budget every year before the Parliament closer to the end of a financial year. It publishes how much it expects to earn through taxes and other means and how much it plans to spend on salaries, infrastructure, social development and other categories in the next financial year. We have seen many times that the actual results are different from the budgeted estimates.
Another aspect of the Union Budget is that it becomes an event. Loads of commentary in newspapers, TV channels and social media follow as soon as the finance minister starts th...
2023-05-2612 min
DataSpotEp 8 - How International Transactions are Recorded?Have you ever bought an imported perfume or an electronic gadget or a bottle of rare whiskey from a different country? You would have read a news of FIIs selling their India portfolio which affected stock markets. You might also be working in an MNC. There is also a chance that you are investing in US stock exchange by clicking a few buttons on your broking app.
What do these examples tell us? Where do they get accounted? How to see if we are doing good or not? And what exactly is good and bad in these t...
2022-12-2216 minDataSpotEp 7 - Introduction to MSPMSP - Minimum Support Price, is a tool used by the government to protect farmers from falling prices of commodities. In this episode, we discuss what is the nature of agricultural business, what is the role of MSP, how MSP is calculated for different crops and whether MSP procurement has been successful or not. It is important to understand the nitty-gritties of this mechanism to analyse the overall farming system in the country.
Sources and Further References:
MSP, Wikipedia
MSP, Civilsdaily
Report of the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income
Ev...
2022-12-1619 min
DataSpotEp 6 - Of what practical use is this GDP?In the previous episode we understood what is GDP. Now, let us understand how to interpret the data? But before that we should understand what different types of GDP data gets released? Why it takes three years to finalise the GDP data? How to interpret the data revisions?
In this episode we also tell you how the GDP data is calculated. Honestly, it is complicated!
We also know that half of India's GDP relies on unorganised sector. But we don't know exact GDP of unorganised sector. Do you want to know how the GDP of un...
2022-12-0921 min
DataSpotEp 5 - Say Hello to GDPGDP is the most famous economic measure. Economists have a love affair with it, finance enthusiasts like to watch it, politicians like to talk about it when it grows but not otherwise and people at large, just see it in news sometimes and then forget most of the times.
In this episode, we talk about what is GDP, who created this metric, the different measures of GDP and much more.
Follow:
IndiaDataHub - Official Website, LinkedIn and Twitter
Ashutosh, Co-founder of IndiaDataHub - LinkedIn and Twitter
Swapnil, Host...
2022-12-0214 min
DataSpotEp 4 - Who Moves Your Interest Rates?We have talked about inflation in the last three episodes. We cannot finish talking about inflation without mentioning the role of interest rates. They are joint at the hip.
We have seen RBI or for that matter most central banks in the world changing interest rates as the inflation level changes. Once these interest rates are changed, interest rates on our home loan or vehicle loan or working capital loan also changes. Why does that happen? What is the mechanism through which a change in interest rate by the RBI, transmits to our home loan or auto l...
2022-11-2517 min
DataSpotEp 3 - Inflation: Vantage PointOf what use is this high-frequency inflation or price data?
The most common use case for the inflation data is of course to gauge the future direction of interest rates. But there is more to inflation or price data than just interest rates. Because prices for different sets of people move differently based on their consumption or production basket and prices of different categories of goods and services move differently, price data allows us a deeper insight into an economy. It allows us to gauge which parts of the economy might be facing a demand-supply mismatch, and w...
2022-11-1813 min
DataSpotEp 2 - How is Inflation Calculated in India?We discuss how inflation, especially the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated in India; how India's statistical body undertakes surveys in different villages and cities; how it compiles disparate data points and arrive at an average value of inflation within 2 weeks of month having ended; why we should not become cynical of the data; and so on and so forth...
Interested in knowing some BTS (behind the scenes) moments of CPI? Tune in to this episode where we demystify inflation calculation for you.
Sources and Further References:
1. CPI - Changes in Revised Series, B...
2022-11-1118 min
DataSpotEp 1 - Different Strokes of InflationIf someone asks you what is the inflation level in India right now, what would be your answer? There's no single right answer because it depends on what data you are looking at as well as the context. In this episode, we introduce one of the hottest topics in economics i.e. inflation, in a different way which will help you appreciate the number, its context and what it actually means, slightly better.
Transcripts of the episode will be available soon on IndiaDataHub's website.
Sources and Further References:
CPI Data, IndiaDataHub
...
2022-11-0315 min
DataSpotEp 0 - Introducing the DataSpot PodcastIn this introductory episode, we set the context for this Podcast series. We talk about why we are doing this podcast and what you should expect in the subsequent episodes. While this podcast will be about economic data, we will (hopefully) not bore you with economic theory or concepts. Rather we are interested in the practicalities of data and concepts. We want to explain how the data comes into being, what are its limitations and practical relevance.
2022-10-2303 min