Michael Patra appointed deputy governor of RBI for a three-year term

By Ritu,

Capital Sands

Michael Debabrata Patra, 59, has been appointed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor for three years. The post fell vacant after Viral Acharya resigned on July 23 last year.

Patra, as executive director of the central bank, was the principal advisor to the Monetary Policy Department since July 2012. He was also an internal member of the monetary policy committee (MPC). He was in deputation at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as senior adviser to executive director (India) from December 2008 to June 30, 2012. During the period, Patra was advising the executive board of the IMF in dealing with the global financial crisis and the Euro area sovereign debt crisis.

A practising central banker from inside the system and remarkably familiar with Indian financial markets, Dr Patra is sine qua non for monetary policy making,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor to State Bank of India. “Dr Patra has also pioneered research in the Indian context on monetary conditions index, exchange rate pass through, market microstructure and monetary policy without money,” Ghosh said.