A multiple bar diagram places Branch A's and Branch B's bars side by side for each year, so we add each branch's own row to find its four-year total.

Branch A total $=40+45+60+50=195$. Branch B total $=35+50+55+65=205$.

Step 1 — Draw the multiple bar diagram. For each year, draw two bars touching each other (one for Branch A, one for Branch B, distinguished by colour/shading), with a gap separating each year's pair from the next.

Step 2 — Total each branch's sales.

Branch A: $40+45+60+50$. Adding: $40+45=85$, $85+60=145$, $145+50=195$.

Branch B: $35+50+55+65$. Adding: $35+50=85$, $85+55=140$, $140+65=205$.

Step 3 — Compare the totals. $195 < 205$, so Branch B's total is higher, by $205-195=10$ lakh.

Step 4 — Read the year-by-year pattern from the diagram. Branch A led in 2020 (40 vs 35) and 2022 (60 vs 55); Branch B led in 2021 (50 vs 45) and, more markedly, in 2023 (65 vs 50) — it is this strong final year that gives Branch B the higher overall total despite trailing in two of the four years.

Independent check. Re-adding Branch B's figures in a different order, $(35+65)+(50+55)=100+105=205$ — confirms the total.

Reading off only the final year's figures (where Branch B's lead is largest) and wrongly concluding Branch B 'always' outsold Branch A is a common misreading — a multiple bar diagram must be totalled row-by-row across all years, not judged from a single year's bars.