Centre appoints former RBI Governor Urjit Patel as IMF's executive director

Patel's appointment comes four months after Krishnamurthy Subramanian was recalled by the government from IMF

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Urjit Patel as the executive director (ED) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to an official order. Patel has been appointed to the post for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

 

Patel would be replacing K V Subramanian, whose services were terminated by the government six months ahead of his three-year tenure on April 30, 2025. The reasons for Subramanian’s termination, according to sources, were alleged impropriety over the use of his position for promotion and publicity of his latest book India@100.

 

The Executive Board of the IMF consists of 25 directors, who are elected by the member countries or groups of countries. India is part of a four-country constituency along with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan as its members.

 

A monetary economist, Patel had succeeded Raghuram Rajan as the 24th RBI governor in 2016. He had been in the RBI as a deputy governor for over three-and-a-half years before that.

 

A PhD holder in economics from Yale University, Patel resigned from the post of RBI governor in 2018 for personal reasons, making his stint as one of the shortest ones. During his tenure, Patel was seemingly at loggerheads with the government on various issues, including his stance on keeping rates high even when inflation was collapsing, eventually falling below 1.5 per cent.

 

He served as the chairman of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in 2020. He had earlier also held the post of vice president for investment operations in South Asia at the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as well.

 

Patel was a consultant to the Ministry of Finance in the Department of Economic Affairs from 1998 to 2001. He has had other assignments in the public and private sectors, including those with Reliance Industries, IDFC Ltd, MCX Ltd, and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.

 

Patel holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from the London School of Economics and an MPhil degree from Oxford University.