Urjit Patel appointed new RBI Governor

The government has appointed Dr Urjit Patel to replace Shri Raghuram Rajan as the RBI governor. Urjit Patel will take charge on September 4, the day Raghuram Rajan completes his three-year term. Rajan had announced in June that he would step down in September and return to academia after a single three-year term at the RBI. Patel has been known as ‘inflation warrior’ of Rajan and will be the eighth Deputy Governor to be made Governor at RBI.

“The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Dr. Urjit R. Patel as Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of three years w.e.f. 04.09.2016. The appointment has been made based on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by Cabinet Secretary.

Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Governor at RBI in 2013, Patel was advisor (Energy and Infrastructure) with Boston Consulting Group, while he has also worked with Reliance Industries in the past. He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1990 and 1995 covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks.

Shri Patel has a doctorate in economics from Yale University. He did his M Phil. in Economics from Oxford University in 1986 and B.Sc. (Economics) from University of London in 1984 . He headed a committee that paved the way for the proposed monetary policy committee. He is considered as the architect of a switch to formally target inflation, among other changes.