Ex-RBI governor, Urjit Patel appointed chief of key economic think-tank

New Delhi, June 20: Former RBI governor, Urjit Patel has been appointed as the chairman of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, which is India's premier economic think-tank.

Patel replaced former bureaucrat, Vijay Kelkar, who had chaired the think-tank for nearly six years. He will join on June 22 and would have a four year tenure, NIPFP said in a statement.

NIPFP is an autonomous body set up jointly by the Ministry of Finance, the erstwhile planning commission and several state governments.

Patel's appointment comes at a crucial time, The Centre may wish to use his experience at a time when it is navigating its policy during these turbulent times in the wake of COVID-19.

It may be recalled that Patel who had been appointed as RBI Governor on September 5, 2016, had cited personal reasons and quit the post on December 10 2018. The RBI and the government had differed on several policy decisions including the surplus transfer of funds to the exchequer. Following his resignation, the Government appointed Shaktikanta Das as the 25th Governor of the RBI on December 12, 2018.