Urjit Patel all set to replace Raghuram Rajan as new RBI governor

Urjit Patel, the current deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India, has been appointed as new RBI governor to succeed Raghuram Rajan.

Rajan's tenure as RBI governor will end on September 04.

As deputy RBI governor, Patel has closely worked with Rajan and possesses sound expertise on macroeconomic management. They both have earlier worked together in the IMF in Washington. Patel joined the central bank on January 11, 2013, months before Rajan took charge as governor.

On his first day at work, Rajan had appointed a committee under Patel to relook at the monetary policy-making. The committee came up with a report advocating a shift to making RBI an inflation-targeting central bank.

The suggestion found favour with the PM Narendra Modi-led government which recently backed the inflation strategy of the RBI by notifying a retail inflation target of 4 per cent as an anchor for monetary policy.

It is to be recalled, Patel was re-appointed as deputy governor of RBI in January, for a further period of three years.