Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as the Executive Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a period of three years.

Patel will replace KV Subramanian whose services were terminated by the government on 30 April, six months ahead of his three-year tenure. 

A government order dated 28 August said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Urjit Patel, economist and former RBI Governor, to the post of Executive Director at the IMF, for a period of three years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or until further orders.

For the Kenyan-born Indian economist, the appointment marks a return to the IMF where he began his career and worked for five years from 1990, covering the US, India, the Bahamas and Myanmar desks. 

Patel was the first RBI governor since 1990 to step down before completion of his tenure. He served as the 24th RBI Governor on 4 September 2016 succeeding Raghuram Rajan, but resigned from the post in December 2018 before the completion of his term, citing personal reasons. 

Prior to that, he served as RBI’s deputy governor handling monetary policy, economic policy research, statistics and information management, deposit insurance, communication and Right to Information (RTI).

He also served as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance from 1998 to 2001. He has also had other assignments in the public and private sectors.

Patel has a PhD in economics from Yale University, an M Phil from Oxford University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from the London School of Economics.

IMF has 25 EDS in its executive board who are elected by the member countries or groups of countries. India is part of a four-country constituency, along with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, as its members.