Globally acclaimed economist Jagdish Bhagwati today hailed the appointment of Urjit Patel as the next RBI Governor as “terrific choice”, saying he is an ideal person to head the central bank.
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The government started its search for the new RBI governor after Rajan stunned the government officials and investors on June 18 in a surprise letter to his staff by announcing that he would step down when his term ends on September 4 this year.
This was followed by a three-year stint as a consultant with the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry.
“For the first time, a systematic approach and an objective mechanism have been put in place. The Committee had met twice to discuss all possible names that can be considered for this assignment and had submitted a short panel of names to the ACC”, the release added.
“The new governor needs to reinforce the faith that the external world and Indian markets have in the. central bank”, said Mihir Vora, Chief Investment Officer of Max life insurance.
Rajan is going back to academics at the University of Chicago.
Both men worked for the International Monetary Fund and studied overseas, in Patel’s case at the London School of Economics and Oxford University before heading across the Atlantic to Yale for his economics doctorate.
Patel now runs the central bank’s monetary policy department, where he was instrumental in a switch to using consumer prices instead of wholesale prices to measure inflation.
After obtaining his PhD, Dr. Patel joined the International Monetary Fund in 1990 worked on the USA, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks at IMF till 1995. This apart, he has been a non-resident Senior Fellow of The Brookings Institution.
In 1996-97, he had almost two years of association with the RBI, when he was sent on deputation from the IMF (where he worked during 1990-95) to advice on development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, real exchange rate targeting and evolution of the forex market.
Non-Executive Director, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited.
Between 2000 and 2004, he worked with several central and state government high level committees, such as, Task Force on Direct Taxes and Group of Ministers on Telecom Matters.
On its part, India Inc. welcomed Patel’s appointment.
Industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) credited Patel with being the architect of the current monetary policy stance.
Mr Patel, 52, headed a panel that recommended landmark changes to monetary policy in India, including a switch to inflation-targeting and the creation of a panel to set interest rates.
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“Don’t be an idiot like the presstitudes”, Swamy responded to a follower when asked “Urijit Patel new #RBI governor – hawkish for sure”.
