Inflation expert Michael Patra to be new deputy governor of RBI

Soft spoken, articulate, and celebrated for his disciplined and original research work, Patra is known to take hawkish stance who constantly prefers rate hikes

Michael Debabrata Patra, 59, has been appointed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor for three years. The post fell vacant after Viral Acharya resigned on July 23 last year.

Patra, as executive director of the central bank, was the principal advisor to the Monetary Policy Department since July 2012. He was also an internal member of the monetary policy committee (MPC). He was in deputation at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as senior adviser to executive director (India) from December 2008 to June 30, 2012. During the period, Patra was advising the executive board of the IMF in dealing