Consultant, Strategic Policy Advisory
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister · NITI Aayog · New Delhi
Macroeconomic strategy, digital economy, trade policy, global economic developments, and emerging policy priorities.
Working profile
Abhinav Motheram
Economist · policy adviser · author
Abstract
I work on public policy and the digital economy, with experience across macroeconomics, trade, regulatory strategy, technology adoption, and MSME competitiveness.
I am a Senior Consultant with the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), on its Jobs, Productivity, Employment and Growth team. Until September 2026 I served in the Office of the Vice Chairman at NITI Aayog. My earlier work spans research, development institutions, and investment advisory.
- Base
- New Delhi, India
- Current engagement
- Senior Consultant · CEGIS
- Education
- Integrated MSc (Hons), Economics · BITS Pilani, Goa
- Fields
- Digital economy · macroeconomics · trade · technology policy
Curriculum vitae
Selected appointments
Complete CV [PDF]Data Science Consultant
LEAD at Krea University · New Delhi
Digital economy transformation, MSME competitiveness, platform-enabled livelihoods, and technology adoption.
Research Analyst
National Data Innovation Centre, NCAER · New Delhi
Nationally representative panel studies, reproducible research systems, statistical analysis, and socioeconomic policy research.
Macroeconomist
Oxus Investments · New Delhi
Political economy, macroeconomic, and regulatory analysis for international investor and institutional clients.
Consultancy engagements
- Current
- Senior Consultant Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS) · New Delhi, India Senior consultant with the Jobs, Productivity, Employment and Growth (JPEG) team.
- June 2023
- Short Term Consultant (STC) World Bank — Office of the Chief Economist Conducted policy analysis on digital transformation and India–ASEAN economic integration for the Office of the Chief Economist, World Bank.
- June 2022–October 2022
- Projects Officer OEDIN — International Monetary Fund Analyzed regional trade and growth trends across Asian economies to support comparative policy and economic strategy assessments.
Education & fellowship
- 2015
- Integrated MSc (Hons), EconomicsBirla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani · Goa
- 2022—23
- Don Lavoie FellowMercatus Center, George Mason University
Publication
How We Vote
Juggernaut Books · 2024 · ISBN 9789353458430
Bhalla, Surjit S., with Abhinav Motheram. How We Vote: The Factors That Influence Voters. New Delhi: Juggernaut, 2024.
A data-led study of Indian voting patterns: how voter choice relates to income, employment, welfare schemes, gender equality and changing political attitudes, and what delimitation may mean for future elections.
Interviews and conversations
- BJP may get 330–350 seats: NDTV exclusiveNDTV · 20 April 2024 · Book introduced at 00:25
- How We Vote—The Factors That Influence Indian VotersBusiness Today · 26 April 2024 · Book discussion from 01:31
- Why Surjit Bhalla forecasts 330 Lok Sabha seats for the BJPThePrint · 26 April 2024 · Book-release conversation
- Has Modi introduced “truer secularism” and appealed to “aspiring India”?The Wire · 6 May 2024 · Critical interview on the book’s claims
- Who’ll be in pole position in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls?NEWS9 Live · 17 May 2024 · Long-form Storytellers interview
Review, excerpt, and citation
- Taking a Bull by the TailPurple Pencil Project · 10 July 2024 · updated 26 August
- Official sample through Chapter 1Juggernaut Books · 22-page PDF
- How every adult in independent India got the right to vote in 1947The Hindu · 17 May 2024 · cites the book
Selected writing
Essays and analysis
Digital payments, economics, elections, institutions, and the changing global order.
Published research and commentary
-
01
Fair pricing could help sustain UPI network ↗
Keep UPI free for consumers and small merchants, while allowing a capped merchant discount rate for larger commercial users and higher-value transactions.
The Indian Express · Opinion · 26 August 2026 -
02
From pipes to points: What drives digital payments adoption in India ↗
With Sharon Buteau. A non-technical summary of our district-level study of UPI adoption.
Ideas for India · 3 August 2026 -
03
India has an opportunity to become a natural absorber of global savings ↗
With Suman Bery and Bhaskar J Kashap. Finding opportunities in global rebalancing.
Business Standard · Opinion · 30 April 2026 -
04
Supply side drivers of digital payment adoption in India ↗
With Sharon Buteau. Peer-reviewed article on how merchant acceptance and connectivity shape digital payment adoption across Indian districts.
Discover Sustainability 7, 560 · Springer · 10 April 2026
Media coverage
-
01
India built the world’s biggest digital payments miracle. Now comes the bill ↗
Soutik Biswas’s report features the Motheram–Buteau research on merchant acceptance and quotes Abhinav Motheram.
BBC News · 16 August 2026
Selected essays
-
01
The Trump 2.0 Doctrine
A dispatch from the dying embers of the old order: tariffs, dollar power, stablecoins and system transition.
1 April 2025 · Economics · Geopolitics · United States -
02
In Dialogue with Hirschman
Voice, exit and loyalty amid platform controversy, USAID upheaval and self-censorship.
14 February 2025 · Political Economy · Ideas · Media -
03
Turnout Tales: Delhi 2025 and the Politics of Disengagement
Turnout, urban disengagement and Delhi’s peripheral political shift on results morning.
8 February 2025 · Delhi · Elections · Turnout -
04
In Defense of Ann
Statistics, ground truths and heavenly lies after Ann Selzer’s final Iowa poll.
17 January 2025 · Polling · Elections · United States
These essays were first published in 2025 and are preserved in their original form. Claims and links reflect the publication date; canonical sources are maintained in Quarto Markdown or Org mode.
Research agenda
Questions I work on
Policy questions at the intersection of technology, firms, political economy, and institutions.
- 01
How do digital public infrastructure and platform markets change MSME productivity and formalisation?
- 02
Which policy frictions determine whether smaller firms adopt and benefit from new technologies?
- 03
How are trade, monetary change, and industrial strategy reshaping India’s external economy?
- 04
What can electoral data reveal about welfare, turnout, voter choice, and institutional trust?
Correspondence
Contact
Research, consulting, speaking, and collaboration enquiries.
01Research or policy projectConsulting, analysis, and collaboration
02Speaking or book enquiryPanels, lectures, and conversations
03General correspondenceEverything else, filed correctly
paramitite@gmail.com
New Delhi, India