Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel Appointed Imf Executive Director: Dr. Urjit Patel, former Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been appointed as Executive Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) for three years. The central government has approved his appointment. Kenya -born Indian economist Urjit Patel is returning to this IMF after nearly three decades. He was also associated with IMF for five years earlier. It started at Washington DC and then in 1992 he became deputy resident representative in New Delhi.
education background
Dr. Patel’s educational background has been very strong. He took a PhD degree from Yale University, M.P. from Oxford University and studied B.Sc. from University of London. He has been appointed by the government at a time when the tenure of the current executive director (India) Krishnamurthy V. Subramaniam was unexpectedly abolished six months ago.
Tenure as RBI Governor
Dr. Patel became the 24th Governor of RBI in 2014 and replaced Raghuram Rajan. He was also the first RBI governor who resigned in December 2018 citing his personal reasons. At that time, differences between the RBI and the central government were publicly emerged. Earlier, he had handled departments like monetary policy, economic research, deposit insurance and statistical management as deputy governor in RBI.
Strategic importance: Pakistan’s issue
Urjit Patel was appointed at a time when India has strongly criticized the financial assistance given to Pakistan under the IMF Bailout Program. India has expressed concern that this fund can be used by Islamabad in activities like cross -border terrorism and war. In such a situation, the presence of Patel is considered important in the IMF to keep India’s interests stronger further.
ALSO READ: Trump tariff despite tension, market strong starts, Sensex up 130 points, Nifty close to 24550
