ORF Data Lab Issue 1 · interactive companion

So What?

Making sense of Indian macroeconomic data

June 2026 · the headline, stated honestly

Step two

The same economy, read two ways

Which way it moved is what Issue 1 publishes today. Where it actually sits compares each number with a benchmark — the RBI's inflation target, the pace of the budget year, months of import cover. Switch between them.

Indicator Latest Recent trend Score

provisional — this number will be revised. Rows marked are where the two readings disagree most.

Step three

What is your inflation?

The official 4.38% describes an average household that may look nothing like yours. Shift the spending shares below and the same official price data produces your number.

Shares are rescaled to 100% as you move them. Built from the six categories the dataset publishes a rate for — the official basket carries a few more.

Your inflation
Honest notes

What this page cannot yet tell you

Of the 34 indicators Issue 1 scores, only some can be given a benchmark today. Rather than invent the rest, they are left blank and marked.

have a benchmark now — an official target, the budget's own pace, or import cover
need long history pulled from the source archives before "normal" can be defined
have no defensible benchmark, or are missing from the dataset altogether

Three specific things the authors should know: