The Reserve Bank of India has named Michael Patra the new and fourth Deputy Governor of the apex bank. Patra will fill in the vacancy left open following former Deputy Governor Viral Acharya's exit last year after a spate with the government.
Who is Michael Debabrata Patra?
Patra is currently the Executive Director of the Monetary Policy Department.
Michael Patra pursued his PhD from IIT Mumbai. He is also a Fellow of Harvard University, where he pursued his post doctoral research in financial stability. Patra joined the RBI in 1985. He has held several roles in the apex bank since then. He served at the Adviser in the Department of Economic Analysis and Policy in charge of international finance, money and banking before moving to Monetary Policy Department in 2005.
Patra is expected to fill in Acharya's shoes and take over the monetary policy portfolio. According to reports, Patra had applied for the role of the Deputy Governor in 2017. The Deputy Governor's date of appointment has not been specified yet. He will, however, serve for three years in his role, as mentioned in a circular by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Michael Debabrata Patra has been a part of MPC since its inception. He is considered to be a monetary policy hawk. Patra has voted for three consecutive rate cuts and believes that the economy needs fiscal support. However, in the December meeting, Patra voted for a stop in rate cuts.
Patra is the fourth Deputy Governor of the RBI along with NS Vishwanathan, BP Kanungo and MK Jain.
Viral Acharya's resignation - whose position was left vacant since his premature exit from the apex bank in July 2019 - came after Urjit Patel stepped down from his role of RBI Governor in December 2018.
Also read: Michael Debabrata Patra appointed RBI's fourth Deputy Governor