Revision as of 20:31, 5 September 2016

Urjit Patel, A profile; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, August 21, 2016

A profile

The Times of India, Aug 21 2016

Urjit Patel's entry into the Reserve Bank of India as deputy governor had marked a number of firsts. He was the only deputy governor to have worked for a corporate. Also he was born in Kenya, did much of his education outside India and acquired an Indian passport only later in life. However, these items in his dossier were addressed first by the UPA government in 2013, when he was appointed the deputy governor, and later by the Narendra Modi government, which appointed him for a fresh three-year term in January . The consensus has been that his was an appointment based on merit given his track record.

Patel will also be among the youngest governors in RBI.The others to take charge at an early age include Raghuram Rajan and Chintamani Deskhmukh.

RBI governors in the past have been a combination of bureaucrats and economists.But no one has experience as well-rounded as Patel. He has worked with multilateral institutions, he has played a senior role in a domestic commercial finance institution and has been a consultant. Although he was never a bureaucrat, he has worked closely with the government having been part of several committees.

One area where Patel is completely different from his predecessor is his personality .Unlike Rajan, Patel is an introvert and rarely speaks in public or participates in public debates. Although he has been deputy governor since January 2013, he has delivered very few speeches.

Born on October 28, 1963, Patel is a PhD (economics) from Yale University (1990) and MPhil from Oxford (1986).Outside academia, Patel has had a long stint in the financial sector at IDFC where he worked between 1997 and 2006, first as an executive director and part of the startup team and subsequently as a joint CEO of the company . He was also with Reliance Industries between 2008 and 2009 as president-business development.His role at Reliance involved assessing macroeconomic risk for the overall business, strategizing commercial approaches for hydrocarbon energy companies of climate change mitigation policies.

Between 2000 and 2004, Urjit worked closely with several central and state government high-level committees, such as task force on direct taxes, ministry of finance, government of India; advisory committee (on research projects and market studies), Competition Commission of India; secretariat for the Prime Minister's task force on infrastructure; group of ministers on telecom matters; committee on civil aviation reforms; ministry of power's expert group on state electricity boards and high-level expert group for reviewing the civil & defence services pension system, government of India.

2016: Appointment as the RBI governor

The Times of India, Aug 21 2016

Govt opts for continuity, elevates Rajan's No 2, Urjit Patel, as RBI guv

The announcement through a press note marks an end to weeks of fevered speculation over the replacement for Rajan, who will return to academia in the US once his term ends on September 4, 2016, bringing the curtain down on an incr easingly rocky relationship with the Centre. The government unveiled the appointment on a day markets were closed, just as Rajan did in June to announce his decision not to seek a second term.

Patel -who has been given a three-year tenure -was selected from a field of five contenders with his predecessor, Subir Gokarn, being the other strong candidate. Also in the fray were chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das and former World Bank chief economist Kaus hik Basu, TOI was told by people with knowledge of the deliberations. Rakesh Mohan, another former RBI deputy governor, was on the original shortlist as well but opted out citing other commitments.

The race for the coveted job finally narrowed down to Patel and Gokarn -both monetary economists with experience at RBI. While Patel, a PhD from Yale, has been at RBI since 2013, Gokarn had spent three years from November 2009 before the UPA government said no to a second term.

“Gokarn was a very strong contender but the PM felt that since he has just moved to the IMF as executive director, he should not be disturbed so soon,“ said a high-level source in the government.

While a selection panel was tasked with shortlisting candidates, the final decision was taken by Modi in consultation with finance minister Arun Jaitley over two meetings on Thursday . “Congratulations to @UrjitPatel... I'm sure he will successfully lead the Reserve Bank & contribute to India's economic development,“ Jaitley tweeted. Patel has been involved with all crucial decisions at the central bank -from reworking the way key policy rates are decided to modernising the way RBI functions. He is also a member of the panel to review the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.

Despite his onerous fiscal responsibilities, Patel does have a lighter side. In his days at Oxford, he is said to have enjoyed leafing through the satirical magazine, Private Eye, and the bumbling Mr Bean was one of his favourite characters.

See also

The Reserve Bank of India