The idea
Data is just written-down facts
Your class attendance sheet is data. So is your phone's list of UPI payments. Data is simply facts that someone recorded.
Most business data sits in a table, just like an Excel sheet:
| Name | Age | City | Bought coffee? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asha | 21 | Mumbai | Yes |
| Rohan | 34 | Pune | No |
| Meera | 27 | Delhi | Yes |
Each row is one thing (here, one person). Each column is one fact about it.