Urjit Patel suceeds Raghuram Rajan as RBI governor

Urjit R Patel assumed charge as the 24th governor of the Reserve Bank of India effective 4 September 2016 after serving as deputy governor since January 2013. He was re-appointed deputy governor on 11 January 2016 after completion of his first three-year term of office.

As deputy governor, Patel chaired the expert committee to revise and strengthen the monetary policy framework. Representing India, he actively participated in steering the signing into force of the inter-governmental treaty and the Inter-Central Bank Agreement (ICBA) among the BRICS nations, which led to the establishment of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a swap line framework among the central banks of these countries.

Patel has also served at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He was on deputation from the IMF to the Reserve Bank during 1996-1997, and in that capacity he provided advice on development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, and evolution of the foreign exchange market.

He was a consultant to the ministry of finance (department of economic affairs), from 1998 to 2001. He has also had other assignments in the public and private sectors.

He also had other assignments in public and private sectors, including with Reliance Industries, IDFC Ltd, MCX Ltd and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.

Patel has worked closely with several high level committees of the central and state governments, including the task force on direct taxes (Kelkar Committee), the high level expert group for reviewing the civil and defence services pension system, the prime minister's task force on infrastructure, the group of ministers on telecom matters, the committee on civil aviation reforms and the ministry of power's expert group on state electricity boards.

Patel has several publications in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, monetary policy, public finance, the Indian financial sector, international trade, and regulatory economics.

Patel holds a PhD in economics from Yale University, an M Phil from University of Oxford and a BSc from the University of London.'