Urjit Patel appointed new RBI governor, to replace Raghuram Rajan

Eminent economist, consultant and banker Urjit Patel was on Saturday appointed new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Patel will replace Raghuram Rajan. The appointment is for a period of three years following the recommendations of financial sector regulatory appointments search committee (FSRASC). Post Rajan’s surprise farewell note last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a tough task of getting someone for the post, who could fill in Rajan’s shoes with the right mix of intellectual credentials and global acceptability.

The tenure of Raghuram Rajan is ending on September 4.

One of the RBI’s four deputy governors, Patel, 52, was reappointed in January for another three years. He has run the central bank’s monetary policy department since 2013.

Seen as a close lieutenant to Rajan, Patel headed a committee that introduced landmark changes including a switch to inflation-targeting and adopting consumer prices as the new benchmark instead of wholesale prices. The changes he helped drive are considered to be among the most significant monetary policy reforms since India opened up its economy in 1991.

Patel, born on October 28, 1963, received his doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1990) and M Phil from Oxford (1986). He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1990 and 1995 covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks.

He will be the eighth Deputy Governor to be made Governor at RBI.

By – Dhriti Sharma