ECONOMY. POLICY. DATA.
Akhilesh Tilotia
Writings on the Indian economy, public policy, and data. Co-founder of Thurro. Author of The Making of India and Through the Looking Glass.
Read the writings AboutFEATURED · THURRO INSIGHTS
India’s commodity trade is running on price, not volume
India’s trade value is still climbing, with imports up about 18 percent and exports about 8 percent in the first four months of 2026. Split that value into price and quantity, though, and the volume side is falling on both flows.
Jun 25, 2026 · Read the full piece
Through the Looking Glass (2021)
Writings
One stream across Thurro, Financial Express, IMC Journal, and others.
THURRO · OPINION
Nine years of net gold buying equals nine years of current account deficit — and it has doubled in value
We combine customs trade data with daily spot gold to size what nine years of net gold imports cost India, and what the metal is worth...
Sep 21, 2026
THURRO · OPINION
The UPI MDR pool is about ₹1,000 crore a month, and two-thirds of it sits where nobody can see it
NPCI publishes UPI merchant payments by category every month, and the volumes reconcile exactly to the headline person-to-merchant totals — which means the merchant discount rate...
Sep 17, 2026
THURRO · OPINION
India’s commodity trade is running on price, not volume
Customs value-and-quantity records let us split India’s trade into how much actually moved and what it cost — the question the headline value prints bury. We...
Jun 25, 2026
THURRO · OPINION
India’s net FDI has all but vanished — even as foreign money keeps pouring in
Combining RBI balance-of-payments and DPIIT data, we can decompose India’s FDI into what arrives and in what form, what foreign investors take back out, and where...
Jun 19, 2026
MONEYCONTROL · OPINION
Inflation targeting needs a reboot to align with current economic structure
India’s next policy review offers a rare chance to recalibrate not just the measure of inflation but the level at which it is targeted. India’s monetary...
Oct 15, 2025
IMC JOURNAL · OPINION
Manifest a Better Bharat with Artificial Intelligence
The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) era has been compared to various game-changing innovations in human history, like fire, the wheel, electricity, and the internet. Imagine...
Aug 1, 2025
Books
2015. The story of the Indian economy told through facts, figures, and anecdotes, and the private cost of public failure that runs through it.
2021. A journey from the private sector to an inside view of public service, drawn from three years in the Government of India.
Conversations
Panels, talks, and webinars.
About
Roles and affiliations.
Travel diaries
Road trips and journeys, in English and Hindi.
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