A company's yearly profit is drawn as a bar chart whose vertical axis starts at 40 instead of at 0. Profit in ₹ crore — 2022: 44, 2023: 48, 2024: 52. On the chart the 2024 bar looks about three times as tall as the 2022 bar. Which statement is supported by the data?

The rise is 52 − 44 = 8 crore on a base of 44, that is (8 ÷ 44) × 100 ≈ 18.2 percent — a modest increase. The bars look three times taller only because the axis begins at 40, so each bar shows the excess over 40, namely 4, 8 and 12, rather than the profit itself. A rise of 8 on a base of 44 is nowhere near 200 percent, and the chart is not worthless: its numbers are correct, it is the visual comparison of heights that misleads.