New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Union Government on Tuesday appointed Michael Debabrata Patra as RBI Deputy Governor (DG).
A native of Cuttack, Patra was tipped to replace Urjit Patel as DG after the latter was elevated to the post of RBI Governor in 2016. Finally, Patra was made the fourth DG of RBI replacing Viral Acharya, who left office on July 23.
He has been appointed for three years, according to a statement by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
He is most likely to handle the monetary policy portfolio, which was with Acharya.
Patra is among the rare insiders to be appointed to the post, which has traditionally gone to an economist outside the central bank. Prior to Acharya, Urjit Patel, who was later elevated to the post of governor, held the post.
Patra did his graduation from the erstwhile Ravenshaw College and post graduation from Utkal University. A career central banker, he had joined RBI in 1984. He has handled several key assignments and played a part in managing India’s forex crisis in 1991. He is currently secretary of the Monetary Policy Committee.
Another alumnus of Utkal University, Bibhu Prasad Kanungo has been serving as RBI DG since April 2017.
The present RBI governor, Shaktikanta Das, is also from Odisha. The 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS Officer and an alumnus of DM School in Bhubaneswar, assumed office in December 2018.
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