The government was given a thumping mandate by the people of India ahead of its first full year budget announcement. Our social media analytics helped us understand how this year’s budget was perceived by the community online.

2. 2
Introduction
Social Media Analysis
Methodology

3. 3
Introduction
• On the day of the much-anticipated Union Budget for 2015-16, social media was abuzz with
conversations.
• Germin8 conducted a Social Media Analysis of the whole event
• This analysis tries to answer the following key questions :
• How did the audience react to the budget?
• What did the people discuss about the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister?
• What were the major themes of discussion around the event?
• What were the underlying sentiments around these themes?
• How did these conversations vary among men and women?

4. 4
Mentions for Budget 2015
Total Mentions – 4,82,602
1708
1433
4849
7455
37811
176726
31643
220977
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000
21-Feb-15
22-Feb-15
23-Feb-15
24-Feb-15
25-Feb-15
26-Feb-15
27-Feb-15
28-Feb-15
Mentions
#RailBudget
• The conversations surrounding the budget slowly gained momentum throughout the week
• The spike on 26th February represents buzz around the Railway Budget
• As expected, the conversations peaked on the Budget Day – 28th February

5. 5
Gender Distribution & Top sources for Budget 2015
70%
30%
Gender Distribution
Male Female
Top Sources
93.3%
3.3%
2.6%
0.8%
• It was observed that men were the major contributors to social media conversations
• Twitter remained the top medium for conversations followed by Facebook and News sources

6. 6
56675
20040
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
Male Female
Unique Authors
Male Female
Top Hashtags trending during the
day (28th February)
#Budget2015
#SuperBudget
#MakeInIndia
#ModiKaBudget
#UnionBudget
• Around 56,675 Unique male authors & 20,040 unique female authors were discussing the Budget
on social media
• The hashtag #Budget2015 was the most popular hashtag used on social media followed by
#SuperBudget, #MakeInIndia, #ModiKaBudget and #UnionBudget
Unique Authors for Budget 2015

7. 7
Mentions Across The Budget Day (28th Feb)
497 696
9679
38805
39736
26489
16286
11128
6017
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Mentions
• The buzziest hours of the day were from 11.00 pm to 02.00 pm which coincided with the Finance
Minister’s speech, thereby confirming the second screen phenomenon
• News coverage in the evening hours ensured that the conversations stretched across the day

8. 8
Overall Sentiment for Budget 2015
70%
30%
Positive Negative
Sentiments
• The Union Budget has been lauded by Industry Experts as well as the Common Man
• Positives: Policy Initiatives for economic growth, fiscal deficit, sanitation, Smart cities, Indirect Taxes, PSU
Banks, IIT’s & IIM’s
• The main reasons for criticism were lack of new reforms, no disinvestment measures, no word on the subsidy
bill, to name a few

9. 9
Brains behind the Budget
Narendra Modi Arun Jaitley
Negative Positive
25%
77%
75%
23%
• Arun Jaitley managed to drive positive conversations with social media users from all over India terming his
budget balanced, realistic & futuristic
• Narendra Modi had a fair share of mentions and was appreciated on social for the efforts undertaken by his
government
6087821469
Mentions for Ministers

10. 10
Income Tax ,Energy and Development are the
Top Themes around Budget 2015
• Income Tax was the most widely discussed theme around the budget on Social Media.
• Announcements made in Energy, Development and Make in India were the other major themes of
discussion
34566
32082
29025
19212
12940 12810
8063 8050 7808
4576
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
Top Themes

11. 11
Income Tax (1/2)
68.20%
31.80%
Sentiments Around Income
Tax
Positive
• Doubling of travelling allowance, increased contribution to post-retirement planning,
unchanged securities transaction tax (STT) and unchanged dividend distribution tax has been
met with a positive reaction
• The basic exemption limit remaining the same at Rs 2.5 Lakh & a hike in service tax rate to 14%
drew the ire of the public
9

12. 12
71.10
%
28.90
%
Gender Distribution
Male Female
• The chief topics of discussion within IT reforms were increase in the service tax
from 12% to 14% impacting day-to-day services
• Discussion around IT reforms saw more male participation as compared to other
topics
Buzz Words
Income Tax (2/2)
10

13. 13
Energy (1/2)
71%
29%
Sentiments Around Energy
Positive Negative
• Energy related measures particularly related to renewable & green energy initiatives were
appreciated by social media
• The budget received a lot of flak for not paying attention to natural sources of energy, not
introducing further initiatives such as coal blocks auctions and making other investments in this
sector11

14. 14
Energy (2/2)
72%
28%
Gender Distribution
Male Female
Buzz Words
12
• Within discussions about energy, main topics were about
electric car production and green initiatives such as
installation of solar panels across industries
• The Government’s move to boost renewable energy &
alternate sources of energy were commended

15. 15
Development (1/2)
73.00%
27.00%
Sentiments Around
Development
Positive Negative
• It was appreciated that the budget aims to ramp up growth and has laid a clear roadmap for the
development to be achieved in the next 5 years
• However, the government received criticism for spending cuts on woman and child development
• Also neglecting development in certain sectors such as public health received flak
13

16. 16
71.30%
28.70%
Gender Distribution
Male Female
Buzz Words
14
Development (2/2)
• Within discussions about Development, buzzwords revolved around
innovation & economic growth.
• A large focus was on the various initiatives by the Government such
as Smart Cities, Digitization, Job creation & sustainability
• Overall, the Budget was appreciated for laying a clear road-map
towards sustainable growth

17. 17
Funny Tweets for Budget 2015
As with all things, the Twitterati did not miss the opportunity to make fun of the
union budget, and ensured hearty entertainment throughout the day

18. 18
Methodology
• Conversations around the 2015 Union Budget were tracked using Germin8’s
proprietary Social Listening tool
• A unique topic structure which covered all major aspects of the Union Budget was
created
• Conversations were then analysed by the tool to determine the topics and
associated sentiments around them
• Researchers from Germin8 then interpreted the analysis and presented the key
findings in the form of this report

19. 19
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