Govt appoints former RBI Governor Urjit Patel as IMF Executive Director

The government has appointed former RBI Governor Urjit Patel as India’s Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund for three years, replacing KV Subramanian. Patel, who earlier served at the AIIB and IMF, resigned as RBI Governor in 2018

New Delhi: The government has approved the appointment of former Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel as Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a period of three years.

He would replace K V Subramanian, whose services were terminated by the government six months ahead of his three-year tenure. The termination took effect on April 30, 2025.

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The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Urjit Patel, economist and former RBI Governor, to the post of Executive Director (ED) 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, a government order dated August 28, 2025, said.

The executive board of the IMF is composed of 25 directors (executive directors or EDs) 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. Before this appointment, Patel served as Vice President for Investment Operations (Region 1) at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

According to the Beijing-based multilateral funding institution, he resigned from his position in January 2024 due to family health matters. Patel took over as the 24th Governor of the RBI in 2016, succeeding Raghuram Rajan.

In December 2018, he abruptly resigned from the position amid a tussle with the government over the issue of dividend transfer to the government by the central bank.

Before assuming the RBI Governor position, Patel served as a Deputy Governor handling monetary policy, economic policy research, statistics and information management, deposit insurance, communication, and Right to Information.

Born in 1963, he also served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Finance from 1998 to 2001. He also had other assignments in the public and private sectors, including those with Reliance Industries, IDFC Ltd, MCX Ltd, and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.

Patel completed his Bachelor’s in Economics from the London School of Economics and obtained an M Phil degree from Oxford University in 1986. He completed his PhD in Economics from Yale University in 1990. Thereafter, he joined the IMF and served there from 1990 to 1995, covering the US, India, the Bahamas, and Myanmar desks.