What is Data?

In short. the term -data may be defined as a collection of facts and figures or a set of numbers.

For instance, data may consist of figures of income and expenses recorded in the books of accounts or quantities of goods sold contained in the invoices or amount of wages and salaries paid to employees contained in the monthly payroll and so on.

Data may also consist of estimated demand for a product in different regions determined on the basis of the market survey or estimated exports and imports of commodities or targets of imports and exports to be achieved during the five year plan period. These and various other types of data may be of interest to business enterprises for various purposes.