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Akhilesh Tilotia
Akhilesh Tilotia is a Distinguished Fellow with The Infravision Foundation. He serves as Co-Chair of the Climate and Sustainability Council at the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA). He has been associated with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Axis Bank, Kotak group, The Boston Consulting Group, and was a co-founder of PARK Financial Advisors.
Akhilesh is a keen observer of the economic, political, and social landscape of India. He offers a unique perspective in his commentary as he views the world through the various lenses of a government officer, a thematic analyst, an investment banker, a strategist, and a financial advisor.
His best-selling book, The Making of India – GameChanging Transitions (2015), brought together the concept of "private cost of public failure" and how it opens opportunities for investments. His second book, Through the Looking Glass (2021), views the India story from the perspectives of bureaucrats, politicians, and citizens whom he observed closely in his three-year stint in New Delhi with a Union Minister.
He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and is an MITx alumnus, with certifications from CFP and CFA. He is a prolific columnist and commentator in the business media. He has written many reports and briefing papers on varied topics - the intersection of climate, finance, and policy is his current focus.
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Night shift bans and female employment in Indian manufacturing
Do laws designedto protect women from unsafe working conditions constrain the demand for theirlabour? This question sits at the centre of global debates about protectivelegislation in labour markets. Our recent research (Gupta et al.2025) examines what happened when Indian states lifted long-standing bansthat prevented women from working night shifts in factories. Our findings offerimportant lessons for policymakers seeking to expand female employment,particularly considering the significant labourreforms that have been recently initiated by many state governments.
Financing the climate transition of India’s power sector
A cornerstone of India’s climate transition plan is to shift towards a high-efficiency, low-emission power sector. In this post, Vardhan and Tilotia outline the investment and financing challenges associated with such a shift, by consolidating existing projections under various scenarios for the power sector, and assessing these against available financial resources. Further, they examine policy options that could enhance the flow of capital into such investments.