Sreedev Krishnakumar
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sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Sreedev Krishnakumar
@sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
280 followers 360 following 130 posts
Data journalist from India. Works at Hindustan Times. Previously with Moneycontrol.

Other bylines: The Hindu, The Print, The Citizen and LiveWire

https://sreedev98.github.io/
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sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
From tariffs to visa curbs, Trump’s US has been closing its doors to goods and people, all in the name of 'making America great again'. But a new NBER paper by @econgaurav.bsky.social shows US growth has long been powered by Asian immigrants. Today's Number Theory explores this.
The A that made America great By Sreedev Krishnakumar From tariffs to curbs on H-1B visas, the US under Donald Trump has been closing its doors to movement of goods and people. All of this, Trump and his supporters claim, is towards the goal of Making America Great Again or MAGA. While the ill-effects of tariffs on the US economy have been highlighted by many economists and institutions, a recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper by @econgaurav shows that the American skilled work force has gained a lot from Asian immigrants and this process is inseparable from the American growth story as well as positive spill-overs in countries which sent such migrants. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on the free HT app)
November 12, 2025 at 4:41 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Every Diwali, India’s stock markets open for an hour of Muhurat trading, a ritual marking a new Hindu calendar year (Samvat). It’s seen as a moment of prosperity and new beginnings. But do the markets live up to the optimism? Today's Number Theory takes a look.
Diwali and significance of Muhurat trading By Sreedev Krishnakumar Every year, on Diwali evening, India’s stock exchanges open for a special hour of trading known as Muhurat trading, a ritual that marks the start of the new financial year (or "Samvat") for many trading communities. This year's Muhurat trading session will take place on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. Considered an auspicious time to invest by many, it draws both seasoned investors and first-time traders who believe it heralds prosperity for the year ahead. How have the markets actually performed on Muhurat trading sessions in the past? Does the optimism of Diwali sustain itself in the weeks and months that follow? The charts below explore these in detail. (The full text is too long to be posted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on HT app)
October 20, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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Gold is amidst an extraordinary run, crossing $4,000 an ounce globally and doubling in India in just a few years. Today's Number Theory dives into this gold rush in detail.

Read on HT app: www.hindustantimes.com/editors-pick...
Inside the surge: Gold's record rally explained By Sreedev Krishnakumar Gold is in the middle of an extraordinary run, crossing the $4,000 an ounce mark earlier this month in the international markets, while its domestic price has doubled in recent years. The rally has outpaced many equity benchmarks, raising the question how gold compares with stock market returns both globally and in India. At the same time, the surge has tested the resilience of Indian demand. The charts below explores gold’s record run in detail. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the post to read it on HT app)
October 13, 2025 at 4:34 AM
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Bihar is among India’s poorest states yet it hasn’t seen protests or a change in govt in decades. The incumbent CM Nitish Kumar has ruled the state for nearly 20 years. We tried to explore the reason behind this apparent contradiction using unit level data from RBI CCS.
Biharis are poor, but bullish on sentiment By Sreedev Krishnakumar and Roshan Kishore That Bihar is among the poorest states in India and Biharis among the poorest people is well known. However, what is also remarkable about the state is that there have been no large-scale protests or even a change in government for a long time in the state. The incumbent chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has now been in office for almost 20 consecutive years. What explains this apparent contradiction? The translation between economics and politics is never as straight as some assume it to be. However, at least one set of statistics published by the Reserve Bank of India could throw some light on the issue: consumer sentiment in Bihar is quite high when compared to its poor income and consumption levels. Here is what the numbers show. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here, please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on HT app)
October 10, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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A decade after Bihar’s liquor ban, the picture is mixed. An analysis by @roshankishore.bsky.social, Abhishek Jha, and I found very little evidence of reduced spousal violence, and drinkers may simply have switched to other substances. But the revenue loss for the state is unmistakably clear.
Prohibition’s hangover in Bihar By Roshan Kishore, Abhishek Jha and Sreedev Krishnakumar It is now almost 10 years since Nitish Kumar imposed prohibition in Bihar. Its stated objectives were to prevent crime, abuse of women by alcoholic male family members, and divert money spent on alcohol towards more useful purposes. Nitish Kumar was in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) when he imposed prohibition and has changed sides thrice since, allying with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2017, jumping ship to join hands with the RJD in 2022, and going back to the BJP again in 2024. The fact that prohibition has continued through these flip flops, suggests that it has the support of all three major parties in the state, namely, the Janata Dal (United), the RJD, and the BJP. As Bihar heads into its second assembly elections after imposing prohibition, it is a good occasion to ask how effective the policy has been in the state. Here is what the data shows. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in this thread to read it on the HT app)
October 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Sreedev Krishnakumar
financialtimes.com
Breaking news: France’s prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned after rightwing allies indicated they would withdraw from his government. on.ft.com/4gWxifm
October 6, 2025 at 8:03 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
India’s skies aren’t just for metros anymore. Non-metro towns are claiming a bigger share of the aviation map, proof that growth is spreading, even if flying is no longer the luxury it once was. The numbers speak for themselves.

Read on HT app: www.hindustantimes.com/editors-pick...
Non-metro cities take off in India's aviation boom By Sreedev Krishnakumar That India’s post-reform growth story has been an unequal one is a well-accepted and commented upon fact. However, this inequality does not mean that growth has been the preserve of just a handful of places. In fact, there are enough signs that even as inequality persists, opulence is also spreading across India’s geography. Among the most important proofs of this is the growing share of non-metro towns in India’s aviation map, albeit with the caveat that air travel is no longer seen as the luxury it once was. The numbers speak for themselves. (The full text is too long to be pasted here. Please click on the link in the app to read it on the free HT app.)
October 6, 2025 at 4:37 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Art as investment is in a slump: Sotheby’s losses doubled to $248m in 2024, while Christie’s sales fell 8%. Auction house growth has stalled for years. Today's Number Theory looks at the global downturn in the art auction market.
The rich are not buying expensive art like before By Sreedev Krishnakumar At some point of time in the history of capitalism, acquiring art also became an act of investment for some people. This market seems to have entered a bear phase at the moment. Sales growth has been stagnant for the biggest auction houses for years now. Global auction giant Sotheby’s saw its losses double to $248 million in 2024, FT reported earlier in September. Christie’s, the other global giant, saw its sales fall 8% in 2024. What is happening? Here is what the numbers tell us. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on the free HT app)
October 4, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Sreedev Krishnakumar
tonytassell.bsky.social
Have we passed peak social media? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/a072...
October 3, 2025 at 6:22 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
China will no longer claim "developing country" perks at the WTO, a nod to its economic heft and a bid to be seen as a champion of the Global South and multilateral institutions. I looked at its rise as a exporting giant and how its trade dominance compares to its still modest income levels.
Developing country to export superpower: China’s journey By Sreedev Krishhnakumar China has announced that it will no longer seek for itself the special and differential treatment provisions reserved for developing countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The move reflects not only an acknowledgement of its growing economic weight, but is also an effort to present itself as a constructive force in multilateral reform. The charts below trace China’s rise into a global exporting powerhouse since joining the WTO and examine how its trade dominance contrasts with its still modest income levels. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it for free from the HT app)
September 26, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by Sreedev Krishnakumar
mariobrothblog.bsky.social
Experimental post: The Inevitable March of Time
From the moment of this post, Super Mario Bros. is now closer to World War II than it is to the present day.
September 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Sreedev Krishnakumar
conradhackett.bsky.social
LINK ROT: 38% webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer available 10 years later.

Even among pages that existed in 2021, 22% no longer accessible just two years later. This is often because individual page was deleted or removed on otherwise functional website.

Many implications for knowledge 🧪
A line chart showing that 38% of webpages from 2013 were no longer accessible one decade later.
September 14, 2025 at 11:19 PM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Consumer sentiment is a key economic gauge, but how objective is it? More and more data raises concern that partisanship may be increasingly colouring people's economic outlook. Today’s Number Theory digs into this further using data from UK, US and India.
Is economic sentiment real or imagined? By Sreedev Krishnakumar and Auhona Mukherjee Consumer sentiment is often a key metric to ascertain the state of the economy. There are private and institutional estimates of the measure across countries. In India none other than the RBI conducts the survey. How objective are such measures? More and more data, including one released recently for the UK shows that people’s reporting of consumer sentiment might have to do more with their political partisanship than objectively determined. A comparison of data for the UK, USA and India shows that the confirmation bias in the Indian survey might be lower than in other two countries. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the next link in this thread to read it on HT app for free)
September 15, 2025 at 4:51 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
The US debt has reached levels it was previously not expected to reach till the next decade. This raises questions such as who owns this debt? When will it mature? And how does US compare against other advanced economies? Today's Number Theory explores all this in detail.
Four charts which explain US’s national debt By Sreedev Krishnakumar US national debt surged past the $37 trillion mark in August, years ahead of the Congressional Budget Office’s 2020 estimate which had not expected the milestone to be reached until the next decade. Who owns the debt of the US? How soon will it mature? And how does the US compare on these parameters against other countries?
September 12, 2025 at 4:14 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Using art to narrate history. A recent study by economists Clément Gorin, Stephan Heblich & Yanos Zylberberg looks at more than 630,000 paintings over the last 625 years with the help of LLMs, to classify them into 8 emotions. Today's Number Theory looks at the results of their work.
Using art to narrate history, with help from AI By Sreedev Krishnakumar The real aesthete can spend hours in front of a painting in an art gallery and wax eloquent on the intended message and context. What if somebody trained a computer programme to look at 630,000 paintings from 1400 onwards and told a story of what influenced the artists and their art when they were produced? A June 2025 research paper by economists (and perhaps also aesthetes) Clément Gorin, Stephan Heblich and Yanos Zylberberg has done exactly that. It classifies art works by eight different emotions; four uplifting (awe, contentment, amusement and excitement) and four dark (fear, sadness, anger and disgust), and then tries to find a larger relationship between art and social, political, economic and even ecological circumstances of the day. The results are pretty understandable even for philistines.
September 6, 2025 at 4:20 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
India-China ties are thawing. As Asia’s giants call themselves "partners, not rivals," it is worth examining their trade matrix. How much does China trade with India and what share do they hold in each other's global trade? Today's Number Theory explores this in detail.
The trade matrix between India and China By Sreedev Krishnakumar China is the world’s largest exporter. It is also the largest source of imports for India. Beyond these two well known facts, what does the India-China trade matrix look like? Here are the numbers that matter. (The full text is too long to be posted here. Please click on the link in the next post in this thread to read it on the free HT android/iOS app)
September 5, 2025 at 4:27 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
The 1st part of HT's 2-part series on evolution of India's foreign trade traced its trade in goods & services over time and against major economies. This 2nd part dives deeper into the disaggregated picture of India’s foreign trade.

Read on HT app: www.hindustantimes.com/editors-pick...
The changes in India’s exports and imports By Sreedev Krishnakumar The first part of this series looked at the importance of exports and imports in India’s economy overtime and also compared it with other major economies. The concluding part will look at India’s goods and services trade in a more disaggregated manner. (The full text is too long to be pasted here. Please click on the link in the post to read it in full from the free HT app).
August 19, 2025 at 3:41 AM
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Rising trade tensions and growing protectionism in advanced economies have cast doubt on exports as a growth driver for India. In a 2-part series, HT explores the role of trade, exports, and imports in shaping India’s growth story. Here's the first part by Roshan Kishore and me.
Why trade matters for India's economy | Number Theory By Roshan Kishore and Sreedev Krishnakumar India’s recent trade tensions with the US and the gradual but steadily rising protectionist tide in the advanced economies has raised questions about the viability of exports as a driver of India’s economic growth. While India is often not considered an export success story in the recent past, especially in comparison to countries such as China and even smaller economies in south-east Asia, exports or trade as a whole are far from insignificant in India’s macroeconomy. This two-part series will lay down some stylised facts around India’s exports and put them in the larger context. The first part will look at the importance of trade in India’s overall economy and the second will look at the country’s exports and imports in detail. (The full text is too long be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it in full from the free HT app)
August 18, 2025 at 5:24 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
UPI transactions hit ₹25 lakh crore in July 2025, up from just ₹38 lakh in its first month in 2016. Less than a decade old, UPI has transformed India’s payments space. What do Indians UPI on, who do they UPI to, and how does it compare to other payment modes?
Breaking down the UPI revolution in India By Sreedev Krishnakumar The value of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India was ₹25 lakh crore in July 2025. Given the fact that UPI came into being less than a decade ago — it was launched in July 2016 — and had transactions of just ₹38 lakh in its first month, this is a huge revolution in India’s payments space. What do Indians UPI on? Who do they UPI to? (Yes, it’s now a verb that can be used in several contexts, that’s how popular it is) . How popular is UPI compared to other retail payment methods? Here are three charts which answer these questions. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on HT app)
August 14, 2025 at 4:13 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Trump’s 25% tariffs on India were bad enough, but now he’s added another 25% over Russian oil buys. Both the Indian government and the people have not seen relations with the US and Russia as an either-or choice. Today's Number Theory explains why. www.hindustantimes.com/editors-pick...
Can India preserve its multipolarity? By Sreedev Krishnakumar Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on India were bad enough for bilateral ties, but the US president has made it worse with an additional 25% on account of India’s oil purchases from Russia, which Trump now sees as the aggressor in the Ukraine war. Both the Indian government and public opinion have not seen relations with the US and Russia as an either-or choice. Here are three charts that explain this argument. (The full text is too long to be posted here. Please click on the link in the post to read it on the free HT app.)
August 11, 2025 at 5:16 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Microsoft has just become the second company in the world to hit a $4 trillion market cap, fuelled by the AI boom.
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social Sreedev Krishnakumar @sreedevkkumar.bsky.social · Jul 31
Nvidia hit $4 trillion in the second week of July, the first company to do so. Which are the most valuable companies in the world? What sectors do they operate in? Where are they located? We looked at data on the world’s top 10 companies since 1980 to answer some of these questions.
Tracking the world’s most valuable companies By Sreedev Krishnakumar Nvidia soared past the $4 trillion in market capitalisation milestone on July 9, becoming the world’s first company to cross this threshold. Which are the most valuable companies in the world? What sectors do they operate in? Where are they located? HT has looked at data on the world’s top ten companies over a 45-year period to answer some of these questions. Since historical data on market value of companies across the world is not readily available publicly as a single database, it was compiled from multiple sources including Bloomberg, FT Global 500 lists, companiesmarketcap.com, and reports from CNBC as well as Swiss-publication Organisator. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on the free Hindustan Times news app)
July 31, 2025 at 4:44 PM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Nvidia hit $4 trillion in the second week of July, the first company to do so. Which are the most valuable companies in the world? What sectors do they operate in? Where are they located? We looked at data on the world’s top 10 companies since 1980 to answer some of these questions.
Tracking the world’s most valuable companies By Sreedev Krishnakumar Nvidia soared past the $4 trillion in market capitalisation milestone on July 9, becoming the world’s first company to cross this threshold. Which are the most valuable companies in the world? What sectors do they operate in? Where are they located? HT has looked at data on the world’s top ten companies over a 45-year period to answer some of these questions. Since historical data on market value of companies across the world is not readily available publicly as a single database, it was compiled from multiple sources including Bloomberg, FT Global 500 lists, companiesmarketcap.com, and reports from CNBC as well as Swiss-publication Organisator. (The full text is too long to be copied and pasted here. Please click on the link in the next post in the thread to read it on the free Hindustan Times news app)
July 31, 2025 at 4:43 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Replugging this story I had done back in March on India's alcohol trade landscape as the UK's scotch whisky industry will be one of the major beneficiaries of the recently signed India-UK FTA.
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social Sreedev Krishnakumar @sreedevkkumar.bsky.social · Mar 12
In the backdrop of the recent tariff cuts on bourbon whisky, HT began a 2-part series on India's liquor landscape today. The first part by me, published in today's paper, looks at the trends in India's foreign trade in alcohol, its favourite source and type of imported drinks.
Number Theory: Bourbon duty cut may not be a bottoms-up move By Sreedev Krishnakumar High on optics, low in immediate impact. That is the effect of the recent move by India to reduce tariff on bourbon whisky imports from all countries, from 150% to 100%, after US President Donald Trump criticised India’s “unfair” tariffs on American goods, particularly in the alcohol sector. Indians lean towards whisky, along with beer, and the share of bourbon whisky — of which the US is a major producer — in the overall Indian alcohol pie is very small. (The whole text is too long to be copied here. Please click on the link in the next post to read it on the free HT app)
July 25, 2025 at 3:57 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
Terms of Trade: Come and hear the boom boxes in the street

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July 24, 2025 at 7:57 AM
sreedevkkumar.bsky.social
From Gaza to Syria, Yemen to Lebanon, West Asia has been smouldering under multiple protracted conflicts. How did centuries of empire, oil and revolt forge today’s crisis? This special immersive feature from HT traces how the region has evolved through the ages www.hindustantimes.com/specials/san...
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July 19, 2025 at 5:05 AM