Although each operational step is important, in a way writing the report is the most crucial as it tells others about

the outcome of your study: it is the outcome of the hard work you have put into your study & is the only thing visible to readers. Hence, even the most valuable work could be lost if your report is not well written. The quality of your report depends upon many things: your writing skills; the clarity of your thoughts & their logical expression; your knowledge of the subject; & your experience in research writing. Developing an outline for the structure of the report is extremely useful. As a beginner it is important that you think through carefully the contents of your report, organise them around the main themes of your study, & ensure that the various aspects of a theme are well integrated & follow a logical progression. The writing of report is the last step in the research study & requires a set of skills. All this analytical information & consequential inference may well be communicated, preferably through research report, to the consumer of research results who may be either an individual or a group of individuals or some public/private organisation. Q1. What are the main themes of your study? Q2. Develop headings under which the above themes will be organised in writing your report. Q3. Discuss the significance of research report & mechanics of writing a research report.

Case study: Inflation What is causing Inflation?Inflation is the rise in prices which occurs when the demand for goods and services exceeds their available supply. In simpler terms, inflation is a situation where too much money chases too fewgoods. In India, the wholesale price index (WPI), which was the main measure of the inflation rateconsisted of three main components - primary articles, which included food articles, constituting22% of the index; fuel, constituting 14% of the index; and manufactured goods, which accounted for the remaining 64% of the index.For purposes of analysis and to measure more accurately the price levels for different sections of society and as well for different regions, the RBI also kept track of consumer price indices. Theaverage annual GDP growth in the 2000s was about 6% and during the second quarter (July-September) of fiscal 20062007, the growth rate was as high as 9.2%. All this growth was bound tolead to higher demand for goods. However, the growth in the supply of goods, especially foodarticles such as wheat and pulses, did not keep pace with the growth in demand. As a result, the prices of food articles increased. According to Subir Gokarn, Executive Director andChief Economist, CRISIL, "The

inflationary pressures have been particularly acute this time due tosupply side constraints [of food articles] which are a combination of temporary and structuralfactors."Measures TakenIn late 2006 and early 2007, the RBI announced some measures to control inflation. These measuresincluded increasing repo rates, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and reducing the rate of interest oncash deposited by banks with the RBI. With the increase in the repo rates and bank rates, banks hadto pay a higher interest rate for the money they borrowed from the RBI. Consequently, the banksincreased the rate at which they lent to their customers. The increase in the CRR reduced the moneysupply in the system because banks now had to keep more money as reserves. On December 08,2006, the RBI again increased the CRR by 50 basis points to 5.5%. On January 31, 2007, the RBIincreased the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5%...Some PerspectivesThe RBI's and the government's response to the inflation witnessed in 2006-07 was said to be basedon 'traditional' anti-inflation measures. However, some economists argued that the steps taken by thegovernment to control inflation were not enough...Outlook Several analysts were of the view that the RBI could have handled the 2006-07 inflation withouttinkering with the interest rates, which according to them could slow down economic growth. Others believed that high inflation was often seen by investors as a sign of economic mismanagement andsustained high inflation would affect investor confidence in the economy.However, the inflation rate in emerging economies was usually higher than developed economies Questions: Q1. Explain the concept of Inflation in Indian context. Q2. Give out the ways of curbing inflation