Choosing for the first time after deliberation and discussions over it with the finance minister Arun Jaitely, PM Narendra Modi announced the successor of Mr. Rajan as the gorvernor of RBI. It is going to be the current deputy governor of RBI Mr. Urjit Patel. After much speculation and eliminating the prospects of Arundhati Bhattacharya (Managing Director of SBI), Subir Gokaran (executive director – IMF), Arvind Subramanium (Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India) and many more, Urjit Patel was chosen to begin his 3 year long term that starts on September 4th 2016.
Urjit Patel has been running the monetary policy Department at the RBI since 2013. Going back to his educational back ground, Patel has an M.Phil in Economics from Oxford University and a PhD in Economics from Yale University. Having worked with the International Monetary Fund in the 1990s, he was also a consultant to the ministry of finance and president of the Reliance Industries.
Nonetheless, it is going to be difficult for Patel as he is taking over the RBI at a time of robust inflation that has been exceeding the mark set by RBI in March at 5 percent. Also keeping in mind the tricky relation with the current ruling party which did not see eye-to-eye with Mr. Rajan, Urjit Patel has a few obstacles ahead but we wish him best of luck for his term.
