Urjit Patel (English: Urjit Patel, born October 28, 1963, Gujarat, India) has been the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He assumed this post after the completion of the tenure of 23rd Governor Raghuram Rajan. Raghuram Rajan retired from office on September 4, 2016. After him, Urjit Patel took charge from September 5, 2016. Earlier, Urjit was the Deputy Governor of RBI. He was appointed Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank on January 11, 2013 and was given extension in service in January 2016. Urjit Patel is a focused personality with independent thoughts. They believe in knowing complete details about anything.
Urjit Patel has also been the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He was given a three-year extension as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank in January, 2016. He was the eighth person to rise from Deputy Governor to Governor of the Reserve Bank. Urjit Patel is a graduate from the London School of Economics and then did his PhD from the prestigious Yale University. Considered a close aide of Raghuram Rajan, Patel is known as a strong soldier of Rajan who leads the fight against inflation.[1]
For the first time in the country, the decision to set the inflation rate target was taken on the basis of the recommendations of the committee led by Urjit Patel. On the basis of this, it was decided that the target of retail inflation rate for the next five years will be four percent, which can go up to a maximum of six percent. The responsibility of achieving this goal will be of the Governor and this committee which will be answerable to the Parliament. Earlier, wholesale inflation rate was considered to be the yardstick for determining interest rates, but the credit for recommending making retail inflation rate its yardstick also goes to this committee headed by Urjit Patel. However, after becoming the governor, Patel could not alone decide on changing the monetary policy or interest rates. This work was to be done by a committee of six members, whose head was made the Governor.
Urjit Patel had completed a three-year tenure as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank and was given a two-year extension in 2016. Before becoming Deputy Governor, he was working as an energy advisor at Boston Consulting Group. Patel has also worked in the ‘International Monetary Fund’ (IMF) from 1990 to 1995. During this time he worked on America, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks. From IMF, he came on deputation to the Reserve Bank in 1996-1997. During this period, he had an important contribution in making rules related to developing the debt market in India. He also advised the Reserve Bank in banking reforms, pension fund reform, real exchange rate and developing the foreign exchange market.
The first government of the National Democratic Alliance in the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also got the benefit of his expertise. From 1998 to 2001, he worked as a consultant in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. Apart from this, he has also been President (Business Development) at Reliance Industries, Executive Director and Management Committee member of IDFC and a member of the Board of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation. Between 2000 and 2004, Urjit Patel was also a member of many central and state level high-powered committees. For example, along with being a member of the task force on direct tax of the Finance Ministry, he also served in the secretariat of the Prime Minister’s task force on infrastructure. As the head of the Monetary Policy Department, Urjit Patel’s thinking has been the basis behind whatever steps the Reserve Bank took in this regard during Raghuram Rajan’s tenure. It was believed that after becoming the Governor, Urjit Patel would carry forward the policies of Raghuram Rajan.[2]