The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has named Urjit Patel, the former Indian central bank chief, vice president, investment operations for South Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia (AIIB).
Patel will take over as CEO of the Beijing-based multilateral bank on February 1, replacing D. J. Pandian, who has held the position since the bank’s inception in 2016.
Patel will be one of AIIB’s five vice presidents, each with a three-year term. The group will be led by China’s President Jin Liqun, who will begin his second five-year term in January 2021.
Patel served as the 24th governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from September 2016 to December 2018, a crucial period when the South Asian country implemented a large-scale demonetization of high value banknotes.
He resigned before his term ended in September 2019, citing policy differences with the government as the reason for his departure, making him the first governor to do so since 1990.
Patel is the chairman of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi, which is a leading think tank on fiscal policy and tax issues. He was also the executive director and a member of the management committee of the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) Ltd, which is based in Chennai.
