A Few Reasons Why Dr Urjit Patel Was Chosen As The New RBI Governor?

Dr. Urjit R Patel has been appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and will replace the present RBI Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan, when his term expires in early Sept 2016.

Dr Patel is presently the Deputy Governor of RBI and is holding this position since 2013. He has been appointed as Governor for a period of three years with effect from 4th September, 2016.

Here are 6 things to know about RBI's new governor Urjit Patel:

Education

Patel obtained his BA Economics from the London School of Economics and an M. Phil. degree from Oxford University in 1986. He received his doctorate in Economics from Yale University in 1990.
After his doctorate, he worked at IMF India desk during the 1991-94 transition period.

Career of Urjit Patel

His strong professional background made him a strong candidate as the RBI governor.
Dr. Patel joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990 and worked in the USA, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks at IMF till 1995.
Later he went on a deputation where he played an advisory role in the development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, targeting of real exchange rate. In between he worked at various government projects.
In 2013, Urjit Patel was appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for a period of three years and on 20 August 2016, he was appointed as the governor of Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) succeeding Raghuram Rajan.

Why was he chosen?

It is said that Urjit was the right hand of Raghuram Rajan in taming inflation during 2014. As per media reports, he was among the top choice as he had caught the attention of Narasimha Rao, ex finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh and commerce minister of the time, P Chidambaram.

Publications

As per reports, Patel has authored many technical publications, papers and comments in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, public finance, infrastructure, financial intermediation, international trade and the economics of climate change.

Personal Life

Patel was born in Kenya, on October 28, 1963. His grandfather had moved to Kenya during the British era. His father who passed away few years back was a successful entrepreneur.

Inflation

It will be interesting to see what will be thw steps the new RBI governor takes to control inflation. The next RBI monthly Policy Statement for the year 2016-17 will be held on October 4, 2016.