Below are given the published sources of data.
(i) Govt. Publications:
Ministries and Department of various ministries of India and states publish the data relating to their departments or ministries.
These include the topics like employment, savings, investments, imports/exports. These publish the data periodically; i.e. monthly, quarterly or annually.
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Main government publications are—Report on Currency and Banking, Statistical Abstract of India, Reserve Bank of India Bulletin, Agricultural Statistics of India, Labour Gezette, Indian Foreign Statistics etc.
(ii) Semi-government Publications:
These are the institutions such as Municipal Councils and Zila Parishads. These publish data about births and Deaths, Health and Education etc.
(iii) International Publications:
World bodies such as I.M.F., World Bank, W.T.O.; W.H.O etc. also publish the data regarding their organisations. These are used as published secondary data. They are of immense use to business taking interest in import/export etc.
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(iv) Reports of Committees and Commissions:
Union and state governments at time appoint some committees or commissions to make research into any problem such as Finance Commission, Minority Commission, Planning Commission etc. These committees are given a term to probe into the matter. After the expiry of the term, they present the report to the respective authority, which are then published. The data is analysed to find the required solutions.
(v) Publication by Trade Business Association:
Big trade and business associations such as FICCI and ASHOCHEM also publish periodic data about trade and industry which are of much use. These data is used by scholars to analyse various problems being faced by the country. Different industries also publish data about their own production and other elements. Sugar Mill Association publishes the data about sugar industry in India.
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(vi) Newspapers, Magazines and journals:
These are one of the main providers of data on day to day basis. Financial data is daily easily available from papers like ‘Business Standard’, ‘Financial World’ and ‘Economic Times.’ Similarly ‘Business Today’ and ‘Business World’ publish the data fortnightly. ‘Fact for You’ also publishes promising data for all who need it. Yojna and Kurukshetra are another examples of such publications.
(vii) Private Publications:
Some private institutions belonging to big education houses also bring out their publications with data on different topics. These topics may include development, employment import/export or balance of payments position etc. Different stock exchanges such as B.S.E. and N.S.E also publish data in respect of companies listed with them.
(viii) Research Institutes and scholars:
Indian Statistical Institute, C.S.O and N.S.S.O etc. also publish the data available with them. The scholars also collect the data during the tenure of their research and publish it at times. These data are of very high value as secondary source.
There are also many data which remain unpublished. These are the data which are collected by one person and used by other one to make any research. Government, autonomous institutions, universities and various scholars collect such type of data.