New Delhi: The government on Friday announced that it has appointed former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel as the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, for a period of three years.
The move was announced by the government and in an official note it said, “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.”
Patel succeeds K. Subramanian and will represent India, along with neighbouring countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, at the Washington-based global financial institution.
This is the return of Patel to IMF, as he joined it in 1990 after obtaining his Ph.D., where he worked on the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks till 1995.
He then went on deputation from the IMF to the RBI, where he played an advisory role in the development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, and targeting of real exchange rate.
Patel was appointed the 24th Governor of the RBI in September 2016, succeeding Raghuram Rajan.
His tenure was marked by significant policy interventions, including the introduction of an inflation-targeting framework and managing the economic turbulence following the demonetisation drive in November 2016.
He resigned in December 2018, citing personal reasons, after a public dispute with the government over issues related to central bank autonomy and surplus reserves.
