Early life and education
Urjit Patel was born in Nairobi on 28 October 1963 to Manjula and Ravindra Patel. [2] [3] His grandfather had migrated from Mahudha village in Kheda district, Gujarat to Kenya in the 20th century. His father ran Rexo Products Ltd, a chemical factory in Nairobi.
He studied in Nairobi at Jamhuri High School, and prior to that the Gujarati community-run Visa Oshwal Primary School. He studied at the London School of Economics for a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984. He obtained an M.Phil. degree from University of Oxford in 1986. He was conferred a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1990. He was at IMF India Desk during the 1991–94 transition period. [3]
Professional career
After obtaining his Ph.D., Patel joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990, where he worked on the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks till 1995. Thereafter he went on deputation from the IMF to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), where he played an advisory role in the development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, and targeting of real exchange rate.
Between 2000 and 2004, Patel worked with several High-Level Committees at both Central and State Government levels:
- Task Force on Direct Taxes
- Prime Minister's Task Force on Infrastructure
- Group of Ministers on Telecom Matters
- Committee on Civil Aviation Reforms
- Expert Group on State Electricity Boards
- High-Level Expert Group on Civil and Defence Services Pension System
- Competition Commission of India
Born in Kenya in a Gujarati family, Patel became a naturalised Indian citizen in 2013 before joining the RBI. [4] [5] [6] On 11 January 2013, Patel was appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for a period of three years; he was appointed for another three-year term in January 2016 [2]
On 20 August 2016, he was appointed as the governor of Reserve Bank Of India (RBI). During his tenure, the Government of India demonetised the ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series, with the stated intention of curbing corruption, black money, fake currency and terrorism from 9 November 2016. [7]
On 10 December 2018 at 17:15 hrs IST, Urjit Patel resigned from the post of Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) effective immediately.
In June 2022, Patel was appointed as the Vice President for investment-operations for the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), one of the leading multilateral banks in the world. [8]
In August 2025 Indian Government appointed Patel as the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund representing India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for a three year term. [9]
Controversies
Although Patel cited personal reasons for resigning from RBI, experts have opined that he was forced to exit because of serious differences with the Government of India. The latter wanted more money from RBI to balance its fiscal deficit, which Patel did not agree to, citing requirement for long-term financial stability. [10]
In addition, there was a view in the government that RBI's stringent policies were hurting credit growth which may affect the economic growth of the nation in the future. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said that while he respected the RBI’s decision, there was a “plausible alternative macroeconomic assessment” and that a monetary policy easing was required for economic growth.
There was also a growing perception that Patel had boxed himself into a corner by not communicating sufficiently with stakeholders or responding to market situation.
In August 2019 Nitin Gadkari fueled the controversy when he stated that he had advised the Union Finance Minister to remove the RBI Governor because the latter was inflexible and adamant. [11]
However, on his departure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appreciated Patel for his work in RBI. [12]
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