Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor has been appointed Executive Director (ED) representing India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the Centre's approval for a three-year tenure.
The notice stated, “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr. Urjit Patel, Economist and Former RBI Governor, to the post of Executive Director (ED) at the International Monetary Fund, for a period of three years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or until further orders, whichever is earlier”
The executive board of the IMF consists of 25 directors (executive directors or EDs) elected by the member countries or groups of countries.
India is part of a four-country constituency, consisting of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
The announcement of the appointment has come almost four months after former chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy V Subramanian’s term was curtailed at the Bretton Woods institution and he was recalled by the government.
Patel has served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Finance from 1998 to 2001. He also had other assignments in the public and private sectors, including those with Reliance Industries, IDFC Ltd, MCX Ltd, and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.
Patel has Bachelor's in Economics from the London School of Economics and has also acquired an M Phil degree from Oxford University in 1986. He completed his PhD in Economics from Yale University in 1990.
From 1990-95, he served with the IMF, covering the US, India, the Bahamas and Myanmar desks.
He served on IMF deputation to RBI from1996–1997, advising on debt markets, banking reforms, and exchange rate policy.
In 1998 he was appointed as a Consultant with Ministry of Power and Department of Economic Affairs. In the period between 2000–2004, he remained a member of several government committees on taxes, infrastructure, telecom, aviation reforms, pensions, and competition policy.
He has been an Advisor at Boston Consulting Group (BCG); President of Business Development at Reliance Industries; has held Board positions at Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Multi Commodity Exchange of India.
In 2014, he chaired the Urjit Patel Committee on monetary policy reform; proposed 4% CPI inflation target.
In 2016, he replaced Raghuram Rajan as the 24th RBI governor. Prior, he had also served as deputy governor of the central bank for over three-and-a-half year.
He resigned from the post of RBI governor in 2018 due to personal reasons. It is reported that during his tenure, he was in disagreement with the government on several issues, including his stance on keeping rates high when inflation was falling, which went on to hit 1.5 per cent.
Patel later presided as the chairman of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in 2020. Previously, he held the post of vice president for investment operations in South Asia at the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. He served as a Non-Executive Director at Britannia Industries as well.
