Urjit Ravindra Patel Biography
About
Urjit Ravindra Patel is an Indian economist and the current Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He succeeded Raghuram Rajan as RBI governor on 4 September 2016.
Prior to this, he served as the RBI deputy governor and took care of monetary policy, economic policy research, deposit insurance, statistics and information management, communication and Right to Information.
Early Life and Education
Patel completed his Bachelor’s in Economics from the London School of Economics and obtained M. Phil. degree from Oxford University in 1986. He completed his PhD in Economics from Yale University in 1990.
He was a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution since 2009.
Professional Career
Patel joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990 and worked on its USA, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks till 1995. Thereafter, he went on deputation to the Reserve Bank of India from the IMF.
In RBI he held advisory role and was associated with development of debt market, pension fund reforms, banking sector reforms, targeting of real exchange rate.
After two years of his deputation period with RBI, he became a Consultant to the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs. He held this position from 1998 to 2001.
Patel worked with various High Level Committees at both Central as well as State Government level, including Task Force on Direct Taxes, Competition Commission, Prime Minister’s Task Force on Infrastructure, Group of Ministers on Telecom Matters, Committee on Civil Aviation Reforms, Advisory Committee on Research Projects and Market Studies, Expert Group on State Electricity Boards and High Level Expert Group on Civil & Defence Services Pension System.
He was appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for three years on 11 January 2013. He succeeded Subir Gokarn and took over the charge of the vital Monetary Policy Department.
He was appointed as the Governor of RBI in August 2016 following Raghuram Rajan’s decision of stepping down.
Positions Held by Patel
- Adviser, Boston Consulting Group
- Executive Director, Infrastructure Development Finance Company (1996-1997)
- President (Business Development), Reliance Industries (1997-2006)
- Member, Integrated Energy Policy Committee, Government of India (2004-2006)
- Non-Executive Director, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited
- Non-Executive Director, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation
- Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
- Governor, Reserve Bank of India (from 4 September 2016)
