Urjit Patel has been appointed as Vice President of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Beijing:
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has been appointed vice president of Beijing-based multilateral financing institution Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), according to bank sources on Sunday.
India is a founding member of AIIB with the second highest vote share after China. It is headed by the former Chinese Vice Minister of Finance, Jin Liqun.
Mr. Patel, 58, will be one of the five vice presidents of the AIIB with a three-year term in office. He is expected to take over his position next month.
He will succeed outgoing Vice President DJ Pandian, who is in charge of AIIB’s sovereign and non-sovereign lending in South Asia, the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, AIIB sources told PTI.
Pandian, who previously served as chief secretary of Gujarat, will return to India later this month.
Patel was the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 5, 2016, succeeding Raghuram Rajan.
He resigned in December 2018 “for personal reasons”, saying: “I have decided to resign from my current position with immediate effect”.
Before taking over on September 6, 2016, he was deputy governor overseeing the RBI’s monetary policy department under Mr Rajan and was known as its “inflation fighter.”
Mr. Patel has previously worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Boston Consulting Group and Reliance Industries, among others.
His placement with AIIB is considered significant as India has emerged as the largest beneficiary by securing $6.7 billion in funding for 28 projects, Mr Pandian said during his farewell luncheon interview on Saturday.
Also, the AIIB along with the Asian Development (ADB) is processing a $2 billion loan for India to buy COVID-19 vaccines.
Of the $2 billion loan, Manila-based ADB is expected to fund $1.5 billion and AIIB is considering providing $500 million.
