Urjit Patel has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Beijing:
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel was on Sunday appointed as the vice-chairman of Beijing-based multilateral funding institution Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), according to bank sources.
India is a founding member of AIIB which has the second highest voting share after China. It is headed by Jin Liqun, former Finance Minister of China.
Mr Patel, 58, will be one of the five vice-presidents of AIIB with a three-year term. He is likely to assume office next month.
He will replace outgoing vice-chairman DJ Pandian, who is in charge of AIIB’s sovereign and non-sovereign debt in South Asia, Pacific Islands and South-East Asia, AIIB sources told PTI.
Mr Pandian, who has previously served as Chief Secretary of Gujarat, is due to return to India later this month.
Mr. Patel took over as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 5, 2016, succeeding Raghuram Rajan.
He resigned “for personal reasons” in December 2018, “I have decided to withdraw from my current position effective immediately”.
Prior to taking over on September 6, 2016, he was the deputy governor overseeing the monetary policy department in the RBI under Mr. Rajan and was known as their “inflation-warrior”.
Mr Patel has previously worked with organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Boston Consulting Group and Reliance Industries, among others.
His posting at the AIIB assumes significance as India has emerged as the biggest beneficiary by receiving $6.7 billion in funding for 28 projects, Mr Pandian said in his farewell lunch conversation on Saturday.
Also, AIIB with Asian Development (ADB) is processing a $2 billion loan to buy COVID-19 vaccines for India.
Of the $2 billion loan, Manila-based ADB is expected to finance $1.5 billion and AIIB is looking at providing $500 million.
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