Kunal Walia is a Partner at Dalberg Advisors based in the Goa office. He leads the firm’s work in the Digital and Data practice. His other focus areas are Financial Inclusion, Climate, and Investing for Development. He has more than a decade of experience in the ICT sector in India as well as other emerging markets in Asia and Africa.

Kunal’s Digital and Data experience spans across topics such as Digital Public Infrastructure, GovTech, digital inclusion and connectivity, digital transformation, and new tech. At Dalberg, he has led work in the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) space, including a critical report for the United Nations Development Programme that maps the impact potential of DPI to accelerate progress across the 17 SDGs. He has advised leading tech firms, including Google, on the impact of digitalization on the news industry in India.

His works lie at the intersection of technology and areas such as climate, financial inclusion, and gender. Most recently, he worked with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop a global study to assess the impact of different fintech models on financial inclusion of women and helped an East African government develop its digital transformation strategy with a focus on how technology could enable jobs.

Kunal’s Investing for Development work ranges from fundraising to fund design. He supported an international renewable energy multilateral alliance with its multi–million-dollar fundraise, helping them identify strategic priorities and assess various aspects of the resource mobilization. His functional expertise ranges from strategy, transaction advisory, Monitoring and Evaluation (MEL), and organizational development.

Prior to Dalberg, he worked at EY and Analysys Mason, advising clients in the ICT sector on strategy and transaction advisory.  He has been closely involved in a number of high-profile M&A transactions that have shaped the Asian telecom and internet space, including the merger between Vodafone and Idea Cellular in India. He has also supported leading communications companies in adopting and strategizing new technologies, such as developing strategy for one of the largest telecom tower companies in Asia and advising telcos on their 3G and 4G spectrum auctions. Kunal has a bachelor’s degree from Delhi University and an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila.  

Recent articles:

• Why India’s success in financial DPI should be replicated in climate action, The Mint
• Digital public infrastructure can solve MSMEs’ credit problem, The Hindustan Times
• Bringing climate technology revolution for Global South, The Economic Times
• How digital interventions can transform education, in Hindustan Times
• The ecosystem in India is stepping up to tackle misinformation, but will it be enough?, The Times of India