Through the Looking Glass

  What the numbers say—how men and women spend their day differently; and how much bijli, sadak, paani can improve productivity Here’s a question that has been of interest to me: in a country of 1.4 billion people, if only approximately 400 million are in the workforce, what is it that the remaining billion people do? We now have some answers. Time Use Survey 2019, compiled and released by the Ministry of Statistics and Planning Implementation (MOSPI) reveals interesting data about the pattern of time use by Indians. This is how the day of an “average” Indian goes. (Yes, there is no average Indian person – this is the average of the times spent across men and women in rural and urban India.) Out of the 24 hours in a day, almost exactly half is spent in “self-care and maintenance” – this leaves only 12 hours, which is typically used for these five activities: employment and related activities (2.7 hours), unpaid domestic services for household members (2.2 hours), culture, l...

In 2015, I was summoned to the North Block from the office of the then Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha. For somebody who worked in a bank, my first thought was that some hell had broken loose somewhere; I may have written something that was a slip-up or something. We ended up having a one-hour long conversation and that was it. Nothing happened; life moved on as usual. Then, in 2016, I received another call that I now think possibly changed the trajectory of my career path and maybe, even life. I was asked if I want to work with Mr Sinha as the Officer on Special Duty. After mulling over it, it was decided that I will work with him for 18-24 months—even after Mr Sinha moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.  Why? I wanted to explore the world of policy. Such opportunities are hard to come by.  Besides, it’s where I learnt two of the biggest lessons that I now see panning out around us these days, especially during the debates on the #F...

CFC 2015: Outlook of Commodity Finance: Key Game Changers by Mr. Akhilesh Tilotia, Kotak Securities. You can watch the video here: YouTube Mr. Akhilesh Tilotia, currently working as an Associate director with Kotak Securities. Mr. Tilotia has worked with the Boston Consulting Group and was a co-founder of Park Financial Advisors. He has been an investment banker, a consultant and a personal finance advisor, even while pursuing his interests in astronomy, mythology, securities law and languages. He has been invited as a Keynote Speaker in the strategy sessions of various corporate houses in India and has also presented to senior investment teams of various global fund houses. He has completed his post-graduation from IIM-Ahmedabad and is also a Certified Financial Analyst and a graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta.

Akhilesh Tilotia speaks about how the entire online e-commerce digital industry is panning out in India. In his point of view there is a bit of dichotomy, but as India becomes more digital there are immense business opportunities beginning to open up. You can watch the video here: YouTube

You can watch the 10 minute speech here:  YouTube

CSIS event, Washington, DC, USA Panelist at Smart Cities as Innovation Hubs Wednesday, April 15, 2015 5:00 pm - Thursday, April 16, 2015 2:30 am Center for Strategic and International Studies 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 We are pleased to invite you to a special U.S.-India business collaboration conference taking place at CSIS on April 15, co-organized by the Ananta Aspen Centre and the Wadhwani Foundation. This full-day conference will convene senior policymakers, business leaders, and other stakeholders from both countries with the aim of generating practical policy recommendations that enhance economic cooperation. The session will include expert-led discussions covering some of the Modi government's most important economic initiatives including the Smart Cities concept, the Make in India campaign, and Skills Development. The conference will feature a keynote address by India's Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. You can watch the video here: Yo...

Akhilesh Tilotia, associate director, Kotak Institutional Equities, says if he were FM he would try to kick start the capital cycle. You can watch the video here: LiveMint

Arun Shourie launching and commenting on the book 'The Making of India' at the annual Kotak Institutional Equities conference in 2015. You can watch the video here: YouTube

Uday and Akhilesh talk about how the job scenario has changed due to the evolving manufacturing sector and how the current demographic dividend forms a part of a large labour market. You can watch the video here: YouTube

Akhilesh Tilotia talks about the current market pricing and its impact on India and how it is affecting the Indian economic landscape. You can watch the video here: YouTube

India is no longer a land of villages. Uday Kotak , Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Akhilesh Tilotia talk about urbanization in India. You can watch the video here: YouTube

Uday Kotak introduces talks about The Making of India, a book by Akhilesh Tilotia that narrates the story of Indian economy with a wide variety of facts, figures, analysis, anecdotes and insights. You can watch the video here: YouTube

Akhilesh Tilotia, author of The Making of India talks about the inception of this insightful book and the efforts that went into it. You can watch it here: YouTube

Live discussion of Akhilesh Tilotia, Director, PARK Financial Advisors with CNBC Awaaz on the impact of rising interest rates, 31st March 2007 You can watch the video here: YouTube