Contributor : Profile

Varad is an Associate Partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Varad has held diverse roles across government, strategy consulting and multilateral institutions. Prior to this, he was Special Advisor to India’s Minister for Rural Development and Environment and Forests, where he drove the agenda on sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, financial inclusion, environment, and climate change.

Varad was a member of the Government of India’s Low Carbon Expert Group. He was Principal Advisor to Abhijit Banerjee on the UN-SG’s Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda and was a Sherpa on the UN-SG’s Global Sustainability Panel. He also sits on the Policy Advisory Group of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative (GFII) at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Yale University.

Previously, Varad was a Team Leader at the Monitor Group where he helped set up an economic development agency in an African country and led a project in India to scale-up market-based business models that create social impact. He has also worked at the World Bank on governance decentralisation and primary education.

Varad has an M.P.A. in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, an M.A. in Economics from University of Cambridge and a B.A. Honours in Economics from St. Stephens College, Delhi.