Urjit Patel, the new RBI governor who will succeed Raghuram Rajan in September is known to be very close to the latter. A fact that Jamal Mecklai, MD & CEO of Mecklai Financial, feels will help in continuity. “See, it is widely believed that Urjit Patel is close to Rajan. That makes me believe that his appointment as the RBI governor will ensure continuity of Rajan’s approach at the central bank,” Mecklai told FE Online. The announcement of Rajan’s successor had been a subject of speculation among economists and market analysts for quite some time. Patel has beaten other contenders such as Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya, World Bank economist Kaushik Basu and former RBI Deputy governor Subir Gokarn, to bag this prestigious post.
Also Read: Who is Urjit Patel? Everything you want to know about Raghuram Rajan’s successor as RBI governor
Patel has been the deputy governor of the RBI since January 7, 2013, and was granted extension in January this year. In his current role at the central bank, Patel is responsible for the monetary policy, economic policy research, statistics and information management, deposit insurance, etc. Patel is credited for drafting the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) framework and has been regularly praised by the outgoing governor Rajan. He holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University and is a graduate of the University of London and Oxford. Patel also headed the committee that introduced big reforms such as a switch to inflation-targeting and adopting CPI (Consumer Price Index) as the new benchmark instead of WPI (Wholesale Price Index). The changes he helped drive are considered by many to be among some of the most significant monetary policy reforms since 1991, when India opened up its economy.
